Dr. Jeff Gruenewald
TRC Director & Professor

Dr. Gruenewald has served as the Director of the Terrorism Research Center (TRC) since 2019 and is a Professor in the Department of Sociology & Criminology. He received his PhD in Criminal Justice from Michigan State University in 2009, and has been funded by the National Institute of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security. His research focuses on topics related to terrorism, homeland security, extremism, bias crime, and other criminal justice areas.

Laurie Mitchell
TRC Program Manager

Laurie Mitchell serves as the TRC Program Manager. She received her MS in Applied Sociology from the University of Texas-Dallas. With a background and program management and evaluation, Mitchell oversees the day-to-day operations of the TRC’s internship program and several federally-funded projects concentrating on radicalization, domestic extremism, and terrorism.

Dr. Steven Windisch
CASDAL Associate Director & Assistant Professor

Dr. Windisch is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology and Associate Director of the Crime and Security Data Analytics Lab (CASDAL). He earned his Ph.D. in Criminology & Criminal Justice from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. His interests are primarily at the individual-level and focus on how the negative consequences of physical/psychological trauma, identity formation, and interpersonal violence intersect with political extremism. 

Spring 2026 TRC Interns: Conrad Haslauer, Jamileth Rueda, Alena Ultes, Josh Blakely, Payton Allen, Reese Smith, Keiko Yoshiki, Autumn New, Molly Blancaflor, Crystal Delgado, Audrey Holick, Eliza Staton, Trinity Bale, Brooke Alvarez, Vivian Pettigrew, Caitlynn Weaver, Emma Jarrett, James Tullous, Sydney Watts, Caroline Culpepper, Lilly Lindsey, Arden Austin, Samantha Quevedo, Eleanor Foley, Kayleigh Gwiazdowski, Michael Guzman, Kristen Arft