KENT: An associate professor at Kent State University has received a $280,000 federal research grant to help study alleged racial bias within the Syracuse Police Department.
Shawn Rohlin, associate professor of economics, and William Horrace, an economics professor at Syracuse University, received the grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs and National Institute of Justice, Kent State announced Thursday.
They also have been named W.E.B. DuBois Scholars.
The study will build upon their previous research assessing racial bias among Syracuse police officers during traffic stops. The new research will seek to understand the causes of racial bias, while analyzing the impact of officer experience and exposure on their inclinations for bias, the school said.
“This research could lead to important policy implications that could save lives,” Rohlin said in a prepared statement.
In addition to serving as associate professor of economics at Kent State, Rohlin is the director of the school’s College of Business Administration’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation.