Human Trafficking Research Lab @Augustana University

As my time in the Human Trafficking Research Lab winds down, I find myself looking back at my time and realizing just how much I really did. I wrote up our lab manual, took minutes in meetings, did a policy brief, got to travel to DC and present at a conference, and a whole lot more. Truly a great experience and I really loved my role as the person who took on what I called the “odd jobs” of working in the lab. I think it was fun to be able to always have something different to do. I also think doing everything else was a lot easier for me than looking at the cases. Because I saw firsthand how much looking at the cases can affect people’s mental health and I am happy to not have subjected myself to that. I don’t know how well I would’ve handled it. Truthfully all I’m feeling as my time with the lab comes is grateful. I earned some money when I really needed it and got to do work that I found important and fulfilling. No complaints, and forever grateful for the opportunity I had to work...

Working on a human trafficking research lab has been a challenging yet rewarding experience. As a Millikin university student, I was eager to dive into a project that would allow me to make a meaningful impact. Little did I know, this project would be a journey that would not only educate me but also leave a lasting impression on my heart... When I first started on this project, I had certain expectations and preconceptions about human trafficking. However, as I delved deeper into the research, I was confronted with the harsh realities of this global epidemic. Our team was tasked with delving into the dark world of human trafficking. We spent countless hours researching and analyzing data. I was shocked by the complexity of human trafficking, and the ways in which it affects individuals, communities, and societies worldwide.  The statistics, case studies, and different forms of trafficking revealed a staggering truth that could not be ignored. One of the most significant aspects of...

Working in the Human Trafficking Research Lab over the last three years has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my undergraduate career. The lab has taught me many invaluable skills such as research, coding, how to run a survey, and much more. Were it not for my time in the lab, I may have never found my passion for research and specifically human trafficking research, which I intend to pursue after graduate school. The lab has also given me many opportunities to not only present the research I worked on for my three years as a research assistant, but to travel to present, as well. I was able to travel not only to Chicago for the MPSA presentation of our research, but I was also able to travel to Washington D.C. for the first time to present our research at the National Pi Sigma Alpha Conference and win honorable mention at the poster symposium at Millikin. Though the work was challenging, I am incredibly grateful for all the things I learned and skills I gained through the l...

The Access Georgian Exchange Alumni took time to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Georgia English Language Programs. Former Human Trafficking Research Lab Assistant Kocha Changelia plugged the lab and our research project during his presentation and this is a photo of his presentation. In Fall 2022, Kocha was UGRAD exchange student in Political Science at Millikin University while pursuing his degree in International Relations at the International Black Sea University in Tbilisi, Georgia. It's really great to see how international the lab has become because I was able to include students from the region that I study in my research.

Celebrations of Scholarship at Millikin University was today and two of my political science students gave research a presentation and a poster. One of the research assistants in the Human Trafficking Research Lab got an honorable mention for a poster on their poster on Human Trafficking from Arrest to Plea Deal in Central Illinois at the Judith & G. Richard Locke Poster Symposium! This poster symposium is dominated by much better funded hard sciences at Millikin with students who are Leighty Science Scholars and have years of research and summer research support while my students are funded through the grants and money that I fundraise or do independent studies and to get academic credit. I think this makes our honorable mention so much more notable and I am proud of their work Another student presented their senior thesis on Political Fair Use: The Impact of Political Campaigns and Individuals in Promoting Inconsistent Copyright Case Decisions. The students are going on to the Ha...

The Senate passed a $60 billion aid package to Ukraine on Tuesday in a vote of 79-18 after the House  approved the package Saturday after months of stalling.  The initial aid package includes vehicles, Stinger air defense munitions, additional ammunition for high-mobility artillery rocket systems, 155mm artillery ammunition, TOW and Javelin anti-tank munitions and other weapons that can immediately be put to use on the battlefield.  This is the first major package for Ukraine since December 2022 and when I was in Ukraine in March many people asked me about the hold up in Congress and I could see and feel the ramifications of ammunition shortages. President Biden signed the bill on Wednesday and I was interviewed by WAND our local news station that day about what this aid means to Ukraine and my trip there in March. You can watch the segment on the news here . I am thankful for the opportunity to share my experience and they even mentioned my book (which is displayed ...

Last week I flew out to San Diego to give a talk on Human Trafficking Recruitment during Russia's War in Ukraine. I was able to give a guest lecture in a Human Trafficking class in the European Studies Department at San Diego State University. It was interesting to talk to a human trafficking class that was very knowledgeable about the topic on the border of the US with some of the students even crossing the border from Mexico to attend class.  Since the students in class has an entire semester's worth of knowledge on human trafficking but there were also other students and faculty from the university it presented a few complexities. You don't want the students in the class to be bored but you also want the people with no knowledge to understand the basic aspects of the talk. So I used this opportunity to have students from the human trafficking class teach other students the basics of human trafficking. Since my talk was focused on recruitment I also did my human trafficki...