Mark Ungar

Mark Ungar is a Professor of Political Science at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center, and a Professor of Criminal Justice at the Graduate Center. He specializes in Latin American security, judicial reform, human rights, and environmental enforcement. With a Ph.D. from Columbia University, he advises international organizations like the UN and the Inter-American Development Bank on citizen security in Latin America. His current projects include combating illegal environmental crime networks, stemming illegal firearms trafficking, and training environmental police in the Amazon Basin. He has received grants from the Ford Foundation, Tinker Foundation, and others. As an adjunct professor at Argentina’s Universidad Nacional and former Dae Chang Visiting Scholar at Michigan State, he bridges academic and policy realms. His work emphasizes transnational strategies for justice and sustainability.

Research focuses on:

• Environmental enforcement mechanisms in the Amazon
• Police reform and violence reduction in Latin America
• Human rights advocacy and institutional accountability
• Comparative criminology and transnational crime networks

Key initiatives include a 10-institute firearms consortium and environmental police training programs. His publications analyze governance challenges and enforcement failures in natural resource protection, linking policy innovations to persistent structural obstacles.

Grants and fellowships: Ford Foundation, Tinker Foundation, Woodrow Wilson Center, and others. Active in international networks like INECE (environmental compliance).