Meet the Team

Jenn Rineer is a research psychologist to who is committed to improving workplaces and workforces in the criminal legal system to better support employees and the communities and individuals they serve. She holds her PhD and MS in industrial/organizational psychology from Portland State University and her BA in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. At RTI International’s Center for Public Safety and Resilience, Jenn serves as director of the Workforce Wellbeing and Effectiveness Program and leads several DOJ-funded projects, including efforts focused on recruiting more women into the policing profession, retaining diverse police officers, and understanding work-related stress. Jenn’s research focuses on identifying and testing real-world solutions related to worker health, job-related stress, diversity and inclusion, and organizational effectiveness. 

Crystal Daye currently serves as a manager in the Workforce Wellbeing and Effectiveness Program in the Center for Public Safety and Resilience at RTI International. She specializes in research on policing and investigative operations, sexual assault response reform and forensics. Crystal has done extensive work on the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Training and Technical Assistance’s (SAKI TTA) efforts to create a multi-disciplinary response sexual assault investigation reform. She served as the outreach coordinator for the Understanding Work-Related Stress Among Medicolegal Death Investigators (MDIs): A National Survey and Mixed-Methods Impact Study and project coordinator for the COPS Documenting and Advancing Promising Practices in Law Enforcement-based Victim Services Program. She has experience focusing on promoting up-to-date technology and best practices among police officers, forensic examiners, sexual assault nurse examiners, victim advocates, and other professionals in the criminal justice system.  

Janelle Armstrong-Brown is a highly experienced expert in health equity, with a focus on community-based participatory research. She holds a PhD in Health behavior and health education, an MPH in epidemiology, and a BA in health and society. Her research explores the impact of social environmental factors on health behaviors and outcomes among communities of color and vulnerable populations. Within RTI International’s Transformative Research Unit for Equity (TRUE), she leads community engagement efforts and advocates for equitable access to resources and disease prevention.  

Jay Feldman holds a BA and a PhD in psychology and an MA in education. He specializes in developmental, utilization, and equitable evaluation approaches and conducts evaluations across K–16 and community-based organizations. He is a member of RTI International’s Transformative Research Unit for Equity (TRUE) and is committed to research guided by social justice. He works toward the co-development of policies and practices that will improve outcomes and access, particularly for people of color, who are often among the most disenfranchised by current systems that perpetuate discrimination. Jay’s recent projects include K–12 evaluations of community schools, equity-centered school reform, and state-wide professional development systems, workforce development projects that support populations that have multiple barriers to employment, post-secondary studies focused on students with disabilities and students from historically excluded communities, and collective impact projects focused on decreasing economic disparities and cross-sector partnering. 

Sandra is an accomplished education professional with a strong background in research, program evaluation, and technical assistance. She holds a PhD in social sciences and education policy. Sandra has extensive experience working with federal and state agencies, as well as nonprofit organizations, in the areas of career and technical education, workforce education and development, and program evaluation. She has directed third-party evaluations of multiple grant programs and is currently leading the Delaware Pathways Career Pathway Development and Work-Based Learning Program. As the customized technical assistance to states task lead for the Improving Program Performance contract for the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education, Sandra has worked with more than a dozen states to improve the quality and use of career and technical education data. 

Zollie is a research psychologist in RTI International’s Workforce Wellbeing & Effectiveness Program. She has a BA in history & psychology with a minor in Middle Eastern & Islamic studies and an MA in industrial-organizational psychology; she is currently a doctoral candidate in industrial-organizational psychology at Louisiana Tech University. With years of experience in the field, Zollie is an expert in police recruitment, selection, retention, and culture. Her expertise also extends to test validation and survey development. Currently, Zollie serves as the project director for the Washington State Patrol Diversity Equity and Inclusion Initiative and as the Co-Director of the North Carolina Responder Assistance Initiative Evaluation. She is also a site lead for the From Research to Reality: Recruiting More Women into the Policing Profession project and is a field implementation lead for Real-world Engagement & Turnover Analysis to Inform New Solutions (RETAINS): An Evidence-Based Policing Workforce Study.  

Lawrance Mullen holds a Doctorate in Health Sciences, a master’s in pharmacology & toxicology, and a bachelor’s in biology and chemistry. Lawrance specializes in the dissemination of health knowledge related to toxicology testing and toxicological drug analytes. Lawrance is currently a Program Manager in the Center for Forensic Science Advancement and Application (CFSAA) for the Laboratory Quality Assurance and Standardization (LQAS) program. He works on the National Laboratory Certification Program (NLCP) project, which inspects drug testing laboratories for federally regulated workplace programs. In addition to his work at RTI International, Lawrance has experience as a collegiate professor, allied health instructor, and toxicology data review supervisor. He is a member of the Society of Forensic Toxicologists (SOFT), Council of Forensic Science Educators (COFSE), and the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE). Lawrance joined RTI in 2016, bringing with him a wealth of knowledge and experience in the field of forensic toxicology. 

Amanda Young is a program manager in RTI’s Policing Research Program. She holds her BA in criminal justice and master’s in public administration. Her experiences involve working in the Burlington, NC, police department helping victims of crimes navigate the court systems and assessing community resources and services. Currently, Amanda serves as the training director for the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) team, where she oversees the planning, coordination, and execution of virtual and in-person trainings. Amanda also has additional experience working with focus areas such as officer stress and wellness, recruiting women in policing, gun violence, and understanding work-related stress among medico-legal death investigators. 

Lauren Mangum is a is a program manager in RTI’s Justice Project Excellence Program and holds a BA in media communication. Lauren has a diverse range of skills as an operations lead, including expertise in product management, educational technology, team building, and execution of client deliverables. Her current work is managing large-scale, high-impact online and on-site trainings, learning technology implementations, complex instructional material development, communication strategies, and media production expertise for projects funded by the National Institute of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Victims of Crime, and Bureau of Justice Statistics.  

Ashley is a research public health analyst in RTI International’s Transformative Research Unit for Equity. She holds a BA in psychology, a Master’s in behavioral and social health, and a Certificate in Injury and Violence Prevention. Ashley strives to advance health equity and racial justice through community– and system-level interventions, policies, and reform. She has over a decade of experience in applied public health research and evaluation conducting intervention and evaluation studies related to community and youth violence, sexual violence, firearm policy, mental health promotion, and substance abuse prevention. She leads mixed-methods research projects, including tasks related to monitoring and evaluation, quantitative and qualitative data analysis, manuscript writing, and survey development. 

Alexia Walker is a public health analyst in RTI International’s Justice Practice Area with a passion for social and economic justice. She recently graduated with her BA in criminology and has since been engaged in a variety of projects and initiatives. Alexia has served as an investigative intern at the Office of the Public Defender 8th Judicial Circuit in Gainesville, Florida, where she contributed to the research of criminal cases involving sexual assault and possession of illegal substances. She currently works on several projects specializing in post-arrest/pre-trial diversion, including the Arnold Ventures Prosecution-Led Diversion program. Alexia is also involved in multiple initiatives as a site liaison, implementation staff, or project assistant. In addition to her work experience, Alexia is also a skilled event planner and project manager. 

Madison Boden is a Justice Research Analyst in the Justice Practice Area at RTI, where she has contributed to multiple projects related to policing, corrections, forensic science, and sexual assault response reform. Prior to joining RTI, she worked for two state agencies: The Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC) and the Virginia Department of Forensic Science (DFS). At the VADOC, she was a Senior Research Analyst who performed evaluation studies that measured the effectiveness of re-entry programming. After her time at VADOC, she transitioned to the position of Physical Evidence Recovery Kit (PERK) Tracking System Coordinator at DFS. In this role, she managed the statewide implementation of Virginia’s sexual assault kit tracking system. Madison earned a B.A. in Criminal Justice from Michigan State University and a M.S. in Sociology from North Carolina State University.

Sydney Franklin is a communication specialist in RTI’s Justice Practice Area, Project Excellence Program and holds a BA in communications/public relations. Prior to joining RTI, she served in roles at television news stations and various nonprofits that supported rural communities and law enforcement. In those positions, Sydney was responsible for managing media relations, content creation, strategic communications and public outreach and dissemination. She also has experience with project management, analytics tracking, videography, and content management systems. Currently, her primary focus at RTI is working closely with subject matter experts and project staff to create and manage deliverables for projects funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance.