Megan Shaud (she/they) is a PhD student in the Criminal Justice Department here at Temple. She is originally from South Jersey and received her B.A. in Psychology and Criminal Justice from Temple University, graduating with a distinction in Criminal Justice in 2020.
During her time at Temple, she has contributed to and conducted research in various capacities. Currently, she is a Public Policy Lab Fellow (in a Research Team with Dr. Jamie Fader) working on her dissertation research surrounding LGBTQIA+ peoples' experiences with interpersonal and legislative discrimination and their sites of resilience. Through her graduate school journey, she has conducted independent research, both via leading a small research team and collecting her own data and through analyzing secondary data sources. As an undergraduate, she worked as a Research Assistant in Psychology labs (both the Developmental Science Lab under Dr. Peter Marshall, and the Mechanisms of Affective Dysregulation Lab under Dr. Michael McCloskey). She also participated in the Diamond Research Scholars program, completing independent research under the guidance of Dr. Jeffrey Ward on the impact of adolescents' exposure to violence on their future violent behaviors.
In regard to teaching, at the graduate level, she has taught undergraduate classes within Temple's Criminal Justice Department (such as Criminal Justice Statistics) and pre-college classes for high schoolers seeking to learn about the college experience through Temple's Summer & Pre-College Programs (such as Criminal Justice Reform). And in undergrad, she was a Diamond Peer Teacher for Dr. Ward's Criminal Justice Statistics class.
Megan's research interests include queer criminology; youth justice; crossover/multi-system youth; mental health; and victimization, trauma, and resilience. In her free time, Megan enjoys reading, writing, going to concerts, and spending time at home with her partner and their two cats.
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jamie Fader