Ajima Olaghere, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at Temple University’s School of Criminal Justice, where her research focuses on the interrelated nature of communities, place, policing, and reentry. Dr. Olaghere approaches criminology with a strong belief that the act of research – the way researchers conduct themselves and their studies – is critical to producing meaningful impacts on policies, practices, and affected communities. She has published quantitative studies on restorative justice for youth and learning opportunities for incarcerated individuals, as well as qualitative and mixed-method studies on youth diversion, police-community relations, and street-level drug transactions. Recently, she has focused on a persistent gap in the field: the lack of intentional, meaningful, and upfront community engagement on studies that will invariably affect the implementation of policies at the place level.