Michelle D. Fabiani

Dr. Michelle D. Fabiani is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of New Haven's Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences. Her interdisciplinary research examines patterns of behavior in international and transnational crimes with a focus on developing tools, methods, and data to mitigate and prevent crime. She integrates technology-driven data collection, historical analysis, and complex quantitative methods to explore issues including human smuggling, archaeological looting in conflict zones (Syria, Egypt), microdynamics of conflict in Syria, auction market dynamics, and presidential communications and domestic terrorism.

Dr. Fabiani's educational background includes:

• Ph.D., Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Maryland
• M.A., Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Maryland
• B.A. (Suma Cum Laude), Department of Anthropology, University of Maryland

Dr. Fabiani's research focuses on understanding patterns of behavior in international and transnational crime, with particular emphasis on illicit economies like cultural property crime and human smuggling. She examines how these illicit economies develop and change structurally in response to micro- and macro-level factors. Her work combines theoretical grounding with novel data sources and sophisticated qualitative and quantitative methods. She has developed multidimensional approaches to analyzing complex relationships between illicit activities and contextual factors, recognizing that examining multiple dimensions is essential for understanding the interaction between micro- and macro-level factors.

Dr. Fabiani's publications demonstrate a clear trajectory in examining illicit economies through increasingly sophisticated methodological approaches. Her work spans cultural property crime, human smuggling networks, and crisis science methodology. She has published in journals like Sociological Science, Global Crime, and Arts, and Collections: A Journal for Museum Professionals. Her research shows a consistent pattern of applying social network analysis, time series analyses, econometric models, spatial regression, and spatiotemporal modeling to understand illicit market dynamics, particularly in conflict zones and cultural heritage contexts.

Dr. Fabiani serves as co-director of the Cultural Resilience Informatics and Analysis (CURIA) Lab, which focuses on developing tools and methods to mitigate and prevent international and transnational crimes. Her lab work integrates technology-driven data collection with historical analysis to explore complex crime patterns. She has engaged in policy-relevant research, including collaborations with Queen Mary University London to compare legal protections against illicit antiquities markets in the US and UK, and with University at Albany on disrupting human smuggling networks.