.jpg "Erin Kearns, PhD photo")
Associate Professor, School of Criminology & Criminal Justice
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Omaha, Nebraska, United States
Dr. Erin M. Kearns is an Associate Professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the Director of Law Enforcement Partnerships for the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education (NCITE) Center at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, a Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence.
She is a fellow at the National Strategic Research Institute (NSRI) and the Chair of the American Society of Criminology’s Division of Terrorism & Bias Crimes. Kearns earned her Ph.D. from the School of Public Affairs at American University and spent 4 years as faculty at the University of Alabama prior to joining UNO.
Kearns has 20 years of experience in national security, first as a consultant for a Kroll subsidiary and later as an applied researcher collaborating with local, state, and federal law enforcement partners. Blending quantitative, qualitative, and experimental methods, her research examines the relationships among the public, law enforcement, media, and groups that use terrorism. She is the PI or Co-PI of over $10.9 million in externally funded research projects in close collaboration with partners across the private sector, local and federal law enforcement, and the intelligence community.
Her research is published in top journals across criminology and criminal justice, terrorism and security studies, psychology, political science, and communications including Communication Research, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. Justice Quarterly, Perspectives on Politics Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, and Terrorism & Political Violence. Her work has been featured on numerous media outlets including CNN, The Economist, Foreign Policy, The Independent, NPR, and the Washington Post. Further, she serves on the editorial boards of Criminal Justice & Behavior, Policing: An International Journal, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, and Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict.
Saturday, October 18, 2025
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM MT