Ajima Olaghere, PhD, was an Assistant Professor at Temple University’s School of Criminal Justice from 2017 to 2022, where her research advanced our understanding of the interrelated nature of communities, place, policing and reentry. Dr. Olaghere approaches Criminology with a strong belief that the act of research – the way researchers conduct themselves and their studies – is critical to producing meaningful impact on policies, practices, and affected communities.  She has published quantitative studies on restorative justice for youth and learning opportunities for incarcerated individuals, alongside qualitative and mixed-method studies on youth diversion, police-community relations, and street-level drug transactions. Recently, she has been laser-focused on a persistent gap in her field of Criminology – a lack of intentional, meaningful and upfront community engagement on studies which will invariably affect the implementation of policies at the place level. Ajima left Temple University in July 2022 to accept a position with Amazon.