My name is Busola Olanrewaju, I am a graduating
senior majoring in Criminology Law & Society, with double minors in English
and Philosophy & Law. I have been an undergraduate research assistant with
ACE! (Advancing Correctional Excellence) since the summer of 2015. I am
currently working on two projects, the Fairfax Juvenile Probation Project and the
Maryland Division of Parole and Probation Project. My mentor on this project is
Kimberly Kras, PhD.
I became interested in being an undergraduate
research assistant after receiving emails from the Criminology department here
at George Mason University. I thought to myself, that this would be the perfect
opportunity to improve and expand my research skills, while gaining work
experience in an environment that strives to conduct research that is aimed at
improving our criminal justice system. I can say that while being at ACE! I
realize there is a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done to the
criminal justice system here in the United States and it isn’t going to happen
overnight.
As an undergraduate research assistant my job is
to assist in any way I can with any current research my mentor is working on. With
the research going on at ACE!, there are many different components that make up
the end product we see in a scholarly article or publication, so every week
when I come in I may be working on something different. This week I worked on
transcribing taped interviews that were conducted by Dr. Danielle Rudes trying
to see how Evidence Based Practices (EBP) are practically being used and
whether the individuals that use it are understanding the purpose and goals of
EBP. Last week I spent time in a program called ATLAS coding field notes from
Fairfax Juvenile offices. Some work is more interesting to do than others but
they all serve a purpose for the end goal.
Working at ACE! has made me more aware of the
criminal justice field I am currently studying as a major. It is one thing to
just read about certain things in a textbook but conducting research on
specific problems on a county level or state level makes the reading more
relatable and easier to grasp. I am able to focus on what’s important to note
when reading things, because not everything is relevant to what I’m working on.
I think this skill will be very beneficial to me in law school and just
whatever I work on in general. I am grateful for having an awesome team to be a
part of. ACE! has helped me recognize skills that I have had all only but
didn’t realize. The things I’m learning at ACE! motivates me to do my best in
whatever I end up doing relating to the criminal justice field in the near
future.
