Nate Connealy

Nate Connealy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Tampa, within the College of Social Sciences, Mathematics and Education. He also serves as the Associate Director for Training and Consultation at the newly formed Criminology Institute for Research and Training (CIRT) at the University of Tampa.

Connealy received his B.A. from Simpson College in 2015 and his Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from John Jay College-The Graduate Center CUNY in 2021. Prior to entering academia, he worked as a crime analyst for several midwestern metropolitan police departments, providing practical experience that informs his research and teaching.

His research interests focus on the spatial and temporal analysis of crime, quantitative methodologies and research designs, police technology, and the implementation of hot spot policing approaches. Connealy's work bridges scholarship into the practitioner realm through active partnerships with law enforcement agencies in Chicago, Kansas City, and Newark to evaluate place-based strategies and integrate emerging technologies like body-worn cameras and gunshot detection systems.

His scholarship has appeared in prestigious peer-reviewed journals including Criminology, Criminology & Public Policy, and Justice Quarterly. Connealy teaches courses in Law Enforcement, Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Statistics in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Terrorism, and Criminal Justice Policy and Program Evaluation.

• 2025 Outstanding Grant Award, Office of Sponsored Programs, University of Tampa
• 2024 Research Innovation and Scholarly Excellence (RISE) Award, University of Tampa
• 2024 Excellence in Scholarship and Research, College of Social Science Mathematics and Education
• 2023 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Award
• 2022 Michael C. Braswell/Routledge Outstanding Dissertation Award
• 2022 John Jay College Doctoral Program Outstanding Dissertation Award

Connealy actively engages students in the research process by chairing graduate theses and participating in undergraduate summer research programming. He also sponsors student organizations at the University of Tampa including the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Wrestling Club, and serves on alumni groups at Simpson College. Through the CIRT, he works to engage both academics and practitioners in skill-building seminars on data management, data analysis, and crime mapping techniques.