Meet The Team
Dr. Jessica Shaw, PhD
Principal Investigator
Jessica Shaw, Ph.D., is a community psychologist, with specializations in evaluation, and organizational change and development. Her research focuses on improving within and between system responses to sexual assault by relying on community partnerships to facilitate empirically-informed, sustainable change. Her work has been funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women, National Institute of Justice, and the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. She has been invited to present her research at the White House and has served as a subject matter expert on several national committees focused on improving system responses to sexual assault. Prior to joining the Community and Prevention Research program in the Psychology Department at UIC, Dr. Shaw was an assistant professor in the Boston College School of Social Work, and a visiting fellow with the National Institute of Justice.
Caroline Bailey, MSW, MA
Graduate Research Assistant
Caroline Bailey is a doctoral student in the Community Prevention and Research Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Prior to coming to UIC, Caroline graduated from Boston College School of Social Work and is a clinically trained social worker. While in the program, Caroline will work under Dr. Jessica Shaw, who has also been Caroline’s mentor and employer for the past three years. Caroline’s previous work includes being a Research Coordinator at UIC, a counselor at a domestic violence community agency, and a social work advocate and consultant in an Immigration Legal Clinic. Caroline is passionate about issues surrounding gender-based violence and social justice and believes that social change should be rooted in feminist and abolitionist principles and ideologies. Her research interests include community responses to survivors of sexual and domestic violence and hopes to continue engaging in research that can influence policy and practice.
Carlos A. Benitez Cruz, BA
Graduate Research Assistant
Carlos is a doctoral student in the Community and Applied Developmental Psychology program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Before joining the program, Carlos graduated from Dominican University ’21 with a BA in Psychology and Study of Women and Gender. As an undergraduate, they adopted, implemented, and evaluated a 10-week sexual assault prevention program intended to expose students to a community and systems-approach to ending sexual assault on campus. Carlos is a value-based researcher, engaging in projects which seek to disrupt oppressive systems of power and create material change for people impacted by those systems. They are passionate about centering marginalized communities to develop and advance culturally responsive programs, practices, and policies to promote equity and liberation. They are deeply committed to social justice and organizing communities through empirical research and intersectional critical frameworks.
Ayla Gelsinger, MSW
Graduate Research Assistant
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Sarah Malone
Graduate Research Assistant
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Mandi Urbizo-Haukjaer, MA
Graduate Research Assistant
Mandi completed her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at the University of Georgia and her Master’s degree in Applied Psychology at the University of Cincinnati. She also completed two graduate certificates in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Applied Behavior Analysis. She is now a doctoral student in the Community and Prevention Research program at UIC working under Dr. Jessica Shaw. She has worked on a few different research projects involving Latin-American asylum seekers, refugees, and creating a diversity training where she honed her passion for helping marginalized communities through researching and creating change together. Specifically, she is passionate about utilizing research on rape culture and its relationship with the justice system to help create improvements for survivors within the Latinx community. Mandi is eager to join the team and work with Dr. Shaw to conduct research with the community to help survivors and foster a more equitable society overall.
Alumni Team Members
Abril Harris, MSW, Ph.D
Abril is a recent alumna from the GJI research team and from the Boston College School of Social Work, where she received her doctorate. Abril’s next steps include moving to Seattle and joining University of Washington’s School of Social Work as a tenured-track professor.
Alex Burrell, BA
Alexandra Burrell is a recent alumna at UIC with a Bachelor’s in English. She is currently taking a gap year to work full-time and save up money for law school as well as study for the LSAT. She plans to attend law school in the future in hopes of becoming a lawyer who aids survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence.
Christine Ng, BA
Christine Ng graduated from UIC in May 2020 with a Bachelors in Applied Psychology and double minors in Art and Sociology. Since graduating, Christine is residing in Chicago while working as a research assistant for Shirley Ryan in their Think and Speak Lab. While working, Christine hopes to further prepare for applying to psychology graduate programs.
Bianka Luczak, BA
Since graduating from UIC with her Bachelors, Bianka moved to Florida where she now works for a company in their Human Resources Department and loves being able to be a source of support and guidance for her colleagues. Bianka and her partner are also excitedly waiting for the birth of their first born child in June.
Maya Kashyap, BA
Maya joined the GJI team as an undergraduate research assistant in 2019. After graduating with their bachelor’s degree in Applied Psychology from UIC, they transitioned to working on the GJI team as a research assistant for just over a year. Since graduating, Maya is taking time to plan their next steps, and to continue working with survivors of sexual violence as a volunteer advocate and activist.