Amelia Chumney, M.A., graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice with a specialty in international crime and justice. She holds an Advanced Certificate in Transnational Organized Crime Studies which guided her academic work to emphasize the role and operations of transnational organized crime groups. Prior to earning her Master’s degree, Amelia completed a B.A. in psychology with a concentration in forensics at Fairleigh Dickinson University. This education has robustly prepared her for human subjects research and to better understand long-term impacts on the victims of international crime.

As a student at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Amelia successfully pursued a double major in psychology and criminal justice alongside a minor in romance languages. She joined the first Honors Academy cohort, studied abroad in the People’s Republic of China, and was student president of her university’s chapter of the Alpha Phi Sigma Criminal Justice Honors Society. During her time at FDU, Amelia performed qualitative research in a paper on policing and natural disasters which was published in the Northeast Regional Honors Council’s Illuminate journal, and her undergraduate thesis on emotional regulation and attitudes towards violence involved novel human subjects data and quantitative analysis. At John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Amelia tailored her educational experience to emphasize transnational organized crime with a focus on human rights. As part of a collective capstone project, she conducted extensive qualitative research on international and transnational crimes in the regions of West, South, and Central Africa.

Amelia’s work experience includes qualitative analysis as a research assistant in the field of distance and virtual education from 2016 to 2017. In 2019, she worked briefly as a legal intern at DeHeng Law Offices’ Chengdu branch while studying abroad in China, where she assisted with case research and English editing. During the summer of 2020, Amelia took a seasonal position at the police department of Ocean City, Maryland, where she worked as a public safety aide. Her responsibilities involved booking and processing arrested persons and ensuring the security and safety of persons in police custody. Most recently, she enjoyed an internship in 2022 at the New Jersey State Parole Board’s Passaic office, where she assisted with administrative and reception duties. These experiences complemented her academic career by allowing her to practice research skills and gain practical insight into domestic operations of the criminal justice system.

Amelia’s technical proficiencies include basic use of the analytical and research platforms ArcGIS, SPSS, and Qualtrics. Her experience with practical quantitative and qualitative data allows her to aptly apply her academic expertise to the challenges of high-quality transnational research on difficult subjects related to human rights, organized crime, and international justice.