it's the most wonderful time of the year

I've been all smiles today, since Dr. Julie Barrows successfully defended her extraordinarily ambitious dissertation this morning. She surveyed all 249 gang task force collaborations in the United States, estimated event history models to predict when and where they formed, analyzed the network structure of the 34 participants in one task force, and then conducted a fixed-effects analysis on her national data showing how multi-agency collaborations can reduce juvenile crime. Her multi-method dissertation thus offers 1) the first attempt to explain why such collaborations form, 2) a systematic look inside the network of a gang task force, and 3) a sound evaluation of their success. Julie will continue working full-time as a federal agent, but look for three strong papers and a book from this project in the not-too-distant future.