People

Andrew Heffron (email)

Andrew completed his BSN in nursing and graduated from the CSU M.P.A. program. After working as an Emergency Room Nurse, Andrew spent ten years as a Public Health Nurse at the Cleveland Department of Public Health and the Cuyahoga County Board of Health. Part his duties at each position was performing continuing education programming to medical staff aimed at increasing childhood immunization rates in Cuyahoga County to prevent vaccine preventable disease transmission and grant management. Andrew’s first position at CSU was the CE Coordinator in the CASAL department before transitioning to Research Assistant with the CSU Criminology Research Center. His role includes research and grant fiscal management.

He lives in Cleveland with his wife, three boys, and cat. Andrew and his family enjoy Lake Erie in the summer and snow skiing in the winter.

Dr. Rachel E. Lovell (email)

Dr. Rachel E. Lovell is an Associate Professor of Criminology and Director of the Criminology Research Center at Cleveland State University's Levin College of Public Affairs and Education. Her research sits at the intersection of violence, justice, and systems reform — with a focus on sexual assault, human trafficking, intimate partner violence, lawfully “owed" DNA, and gun violence.

A leading expert on sexual assault kits, Dr. Lovell has published extensively on the topic for over a decade, examining issues ranging from kit backlogs and testing outcomes to their broader implications for law enforcement practice and survivor justice. Her work as Principal Investigator on a National Institute of Justice grant applied machine learning to thousands of sexual assault police reports, identifying language patterns that signal judgments about victim credibility.

A criminologist and methodologist, Dr. Lovell partners with criminal justice agencies, community organizations, and public service systems to turn research into action. She has secured more than $8 million in external funding since 2013 and published over 75 articles, book chapters, and reports. She is co-editor of Sexual Assault Kits and Reforming the Response to Rape (Routledge) and the forthcoming International Handbook on Violence Against Women and Girls (Routledge).

Dr. Meghan L. Royle (email)

Dr. Meghan L. Royle is a research associate with the Criminology Research Center at Cleveland State University. With various agency partners, she conducts spatial analyses, data management, and novel analytical approaches to evaluate practices and procedures employed by the criminal legal system. Prior to her work at Cleveland State University, Dr. Royle graduated with her PhD in criminal justice from Sam Houston State University. Her research focused primarily on the role of health as it relates to criminal behaviors and victimization. Specifically, she focuses on the ways alcohol and sleep impact criminal behaviors, as well as the ways victimization impacts mental and physical health.