Current News:

Director

 

John Horgan is Director of ICST and is an Associate Professor (Science, Technology and Society; and Psychology) at Penn State. A Chartered Psychologist, he was awarded his PhD in Applied Psychology from University College, Cork, in 2000. While based in Ireland, he conducted extensive research on the activities of Irish Republican terrorist movements, and published a series of noted articles on the fundraising operations of the Provisional IRA. Prior to his arrival at Penn State, Dr Horgan held a faculty position at the University of St. Andrews, where he also served as Senior Research Fellow to the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence. He retains an Honorary Research Associate position at St. Andrews. Dr. Horgan's books include Walking Away from Terrorism: Accounts of Disengagement from Radical and Extremist Movements (2009), Leaving Terrorism Behind: Individual and Collective Disengagement (with T. Bjorgo) (2009) and The Psychology of Terrorism (2005). Dr. Horgan is a member of the Editorial Boards of the journals Terrorism and Political Violence and the Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling.
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Director of Special Projects

 

Kevin Murphy is Director of Special Projects at ICST. An organizational psychologist by training, he is author of over 100 articles and 10 books. He has extensive experience working with security and military related issues. Dr. Murphy has served on four National Research Council panels, most recently the National Academy of Sciences Committee to Review the Scientific Evidence on the Polygraph, and has served as member and Chair of the Department of Defense Advisory Committee on Military Personnel Testing. He has also had multiple visiting appointments a the Navy Personnel Research and Development Center. In these roles, he has considerable experience briefing military and legislative audiences. He also served as Editor of Journal of Applied Psychology and as President of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.
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Center Fellows

 

Philip Schrodt is Professor of political science at the University of Kansas. He received an M.A. in mathematics and a Ph.D. in political science from Indiana University in 1976. Prior to coming to the University of Kansas in 1988, he taught for eleven years at Northwestern University in Illinois, where he helped develop Northwestern's programs on mathematical methods in the social sciences, and the multidisciplinary program in international studies. Dr. Schrodt has also taught at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, the American University in Cairo, the University of California at Davis, Bir Zeit University in the West Bank, and spent a year at the University of Lancaster (England) on a NATO Postdoctoral fellowship. Dr. Schrodt's major areas of research are formal models of political behavior, with an emphasis on international politics, and political methodology. His current research focuses on predicting political change using statistical and pattern recognition methods. He teaches a variety of courses in international relations, with an emphasis on international conflict, and U.S. defense policy. Dr. Schrodt has published more than 75 articles in political science, and his Kansas Event Data System computer program won the "Outstanding Computer Software Award" from the American Political Science Association in 1995. Dr. Schrodt will join Penn State in January 2010.
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Mia Bloom is Associate Professor at Penn State’s Schools of International Studies and Women’s Studies. Dr. Bloom is a leading expert on suicide terrorism and is author of Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror (2005). She has a PhD in Political Science from Columbia University, a Masters in Arab Studies from Georgetown University, and a Bachelors Degree from McGill University in Russian and Middle East Studies. In addition to her research on terrorism, Dr. Bloom conducts research on ethnic conflict, the strategic use of rape in war, and child soldiers. Her forthcoming book, Bombshell: Women and Terror, will be published by Penguin in 2010.  
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Michael Kenney is Assistant Professor of political science and public policy in the School of Public Affairs, Penn State Harrisburg. He is a student of organization theory, international security, and illicit non-state actors, including drug traffickers and terrorists. Dr. Kenney has held research fellowships with the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University and the Center for International Studies at the University of Southern California. Dr. Kenney recently published a book-length study on drug trafficking and terrorism, From Pablo to Osama: Trafficking and Terrorist Networks, Government Bureaucracies, and Competitive Adaptation. His published work has also appeared in Survival, Global Crime, the International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, and Transnational Organized Crime, among other publications. He has presented his research at the National Academy of Sciences, the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, and the Institute for International and Regional Studies at Princeton University, among other institutions. Dr. Kenney is currently conducting research on Islamic activism in Spain, the United Kingdom, and Morocco. This research is funded by the National Institute of Justice. Previously, his research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Tinker Foundation, and other organizations. At Penn State Harrisburg, Dr. Kenney teaches courses on international relations, U.S. foreign policy, terrorism and crime, drug control policy, and Latin American politics.
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Ricardo René Larémont is Professor of Political Science and Sociology at SUNY Binghamton and Carnegie Corporation Scholar on Islam. His principal books include: Islam and the Politics of Resistance in Algeria, 1783-1992; The Causes of War and the Consequences of Peacekeeping in Africa; and, Borders, Nationalism, and the African State. His monograph-in-progress is Islamic Law and Politics in Nigeria, 1804-2007. His research focuses upon Islamic politics, Islamic law, ethnic and religious conflict, civil wars, conflict resolution, democratization, and civil/military relations.

 

Staff Assistant

 

Susan M. Mira joined the International Center for the Study of Terrorism (ICST) in May 2008. Before joining ICST, Susan served as an Intelligence Operations Specialist analyzing threats to Department of Defense operations, technology research, and critical infrastructure. Susan also served over 20 years with the United States Air Force (USAF), including tours of duty in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Susan’s formal education includes a Master of Science International Relations.

 

Grants and Proposals Assistant

 

In March 2009, the International Center for the Study of Terrorism welcomed its newest member, Ms. Machelle Seiner as Grants and Proposals Assistant. Ms. Seiner is a 20+ year Penn State staff veteran. She has held previous positions as a Psychology Department Financial and Clinical Training Assistant, an Undergraduate Assistant in Meteorology, and Lead Data Entry Coordinator in the Undergraduate Admissions Office.

 

Project Managers

 

Project Managers are appointed by the Director to oversee and administer ICST's sponsored research activity. Project Managers oversee the programmatic progress of various projects, ensuring the various Principal Investigators provide deliverables and that milestones are met.

 

Research Assistants

 

Research Assistants are appointed by the Director and other Principal Investigators to assist senior personnel in all aspects of the research process. If you are interested in working with ICST as a Research Assistant, please check back regularly for details of new opportunities.

 

Undergraduate Interns

 

Undergraduate Interns work on one of the two major event databases currently under development at ICST. If you are interested in working with ICST as an Undergraduate Intern, please check back regularly for details of the next intake.