TARGETED VIOLENCE RESEARCH TEAM | |
Mario J. Scalora, Ph.D.  | Education B.S., Psychology, St. Joseph’s University, 1982 Ph.D., Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1989 Biosketch Dr. Scalora (he/him/his) is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His research interests address various types of targeted violence issues including threats to public institutions and infrastructure/threat assessment, sexual offending, and workplace violence. This research continues to involve collaboration with state and federal agencies dealing with threat management and counterterrorism issues. Dr. Scalora also collaborates with local, state, and federal law enforcement on threat assessment research assessing predictive risk factors concerning targeted threatening and violent activity. |
TEAM MEMBERS | |
Adam Cotton, M.A., M.L.S.  | Education B.A., Psychology, Emory University, 2015 M.A., Psychology, University of Nebraska Lincoln, 2022 M.L.S., University of Nebraska Lincoln, College of Law, 2024 Expected Ph.D: 2025 Biosketch Adam (he/him/his) is a fifth-year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Training Program at UNL. After earning his B.A. in psychology from Emory University in 2015, he split his time managing clinical research projects on rare neurological diseases at Emory University's School of Medicine and co-facilitating competency restoration groups at Georgia Regional Hospital's forensic treatment mall. Adam's current research interests revolve around risk factors and warning signs of targeted violence with a particularly emphasis on extremism and insider threat. |
Rasmus Grydehøj, M.A.  |
Education M.A., Forensic Psychology, Fairleigh Dickinson University, 2021 Expected Ph.D: 2025 Biosketch Rasmus (he/him/his) is a fourth-year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Training Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He received his B.S. in Psychology from Grand Valley State University (GVSU) in 2018 and his M.A. in Forensic Psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) in 2021. During and after obtaining his Master’s degree, Rasmus has conducted research on various topics in the forensic psychology realm, including studies on imminent risk rating measures, female sex offenders, taxonomic differences between juvenile sex offenders, sexual grooming and child sex trafficking, U.S. marital rape laws, and offender community re-entry. Currently, Rasmus’ research interests are centered around the identification, assessment, and management of targeted violence, with a particular interest in furthering the empirical understanding of the warning behaviors that precede violent behavior. |
Lily Bopp, M.S.  |
Education B.S., Psychology, Sociology, Fordham University, 2014 M.S., Clinical Research Methodology, Fordham University, 2020 Expected Ph.D: 2025 Biosketch Lillian (Lily [she/her/hers]) is a fourth-year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Training Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. After graduating from Fordham University in 2014, Lily worked as a Forensic Case Manager at EAC Network, a not-for-profit social service agency, where she provided reentry services to individuals with co-occurring disorders reentering from various state prisons and co-facilitated groups on the mental health unit of a maximum-security prison. Later, she worked as a Program Coordinator, where she was tasked with overseeing several state and federal grant-funded prison reentry, civil commitment, and drug court diversion programs. Upon returning to Fordham University to pursue her master’s degree, Lily’s time was split between working as a research coordinator on a study examining neuropsychological functioning in sexual offenders with pedophilic disorder and as a Supervisor for a parole diversion program for seriously mentally ill parolees. Additionally, she completed a thesis that examined the utility of translated versions of the MMPI instruments in detecting response distortion with diverse populations. Lily’s current research interests focus on the assessment and management of individuals with sexual and stalking offenses and the effectiveness of different intervention strategies used to manage the individuals engaged in such forms of violence. |
Britany Mullins-Hussain, M.A.  |
Education B.A., Psychology, The Catholic University of America, 2019 M.A., Psychology, University of Nebraska Lincoln, 2024 Expected M.L.S.: 2026 Biosketch Britany (she/her/hers) is a third-year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Training Program at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. After earning her B.A. in Psychology from The Catholic University of America in 2019, Britany worked as a Research Assistant for three years at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (CSTS) in Bethesda, MD. At CSTS, Britany worked on a variety of projects centered on suicide, trauma, firearm ownership and behavioral practices, and interpersonal violence. These research experiences sparked her interest in further understanding targeted violence. Britany's primary research interests are in threat assessment and management across a variety of settings. She is specifically interested in bias and hate crimes, reporting behaviors, and firearm violence. |
Erin Beckham, M.A.  |
Education M.A., Psychology, University of Nebraska Lincoln, 2024 Expected M.L.S.: 2026 Biosketch Erin (she/her/hers) is a third-year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Training Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. After graduating from the University of Connecticut in 2019, Erin worked as a Research Assistant at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where she worked on projects examining the co-occurrence of serious mental illness and substance use. Later, she worked as a Research Coordinator at McLean Hospital, where she assisted on a variety of projects related to suicide, trauma, and the use of digital interventions to increase access to care. Since joining the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Erin has conducted research alongside Dr. Anna Jaffe involving alcohol use, interpersonal violence, and family systems, with a particular focus on sexual violence. Currently, Erin’s primary research interests focus on risk factors for the perpetration of interpersonal violence within families and romantic partnerships. |
Aidan Collins, M.S.  |
Education B.A., Psychology, Spanish, St. Norbert College, 2020 M.S., Clinical Research Methods, Fordham University, 2022 Expect M.A.: 2025 Aidan is a second-year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Training Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. After graduating from St. Norbert College in 2020, he went on to earn a masters in Clinical Research Methods from Fordham University. There, he was involved in numerous research projects related to risk assessment and interventions for forensic populations. He also completed a thesis that examined the predictive validity of the COMPAS risk assessment instrument among individuals with mental illness. Following completion of his masters degree, Aidan worked as a Forensic Case Manager at EAC Network, where he was responsible for developing and implementing treatment plans for individuals involved in mental health court. Aidan’s current research interests focus on violence risk assessment and the development of interventions to manage individuals with sexual offenses. |