YSU Secures Federal Funding for Violent Extremism Research

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The National Institute of Justice, a research, development and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice, has awarded $449,897 toward Youngstown State University’s Research and Evaluation on Domestic Radicalization and Violent Extremism proposal.

The NIJ seeks proposals for rigorous research and evaluation projects targeted toward developing better understanding of the domestic radicalization phenomenon and advancing evidence-based strategies for effective intervention and prevention.

The project objective is a proposal to use the existing big-data project, the Frames of Misinformation, Extremism, and Conspiracism, to measure and examine the content of violent extremist and accelerationist discourse using social media posts from a group of platforms known to host concentrations of extremist material. 

Richard Rogers, associate professor of criminal justice and consumer sciences, will lead as principal investigator in collaboration with Nicolette Powe, associate professor, health professions. 

Additional researchers on the project will include Jane Beese, associate professor, educational leadership; Monica Merrill, associate professor, criminal justice and consumer sciences; and Nathan Myers, former associate provost of international and global initiatives.

Project goals will include:

• To quantify the presence, structure and sentiment of violent and accelerationist ideas.

• To establish associations between violent and accelerationist ideas with other thematic frames.

• To assess the influence of historic texts in the promotion of contemporary violent extremism and accelerationism.

• To identify patterns and strategies related to cross-platforming, intergroup convergence and mainstreaming of extremist language and ideologies.

• To launch multidisciplinary discussions of the everyday impact of violent and accelerationist discourse in public health, criminal victimization and educational leadership.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.