Kristen M. Zgoba received her doctoral degree from the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in 2004. Prior to coming to Florida International University as an Assistant Professor, she served as the research supervisor for the New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) for 15 years. Dr. Zgoba received two National Institute of Justice grants as principal investigator: (1) to be the first state to test the effectiveness of New Jersey’s Megan’s Law, and (2) to examine the utility of the federal SORNA guidelines.
Dr. Zgoba is also a 2014-2015 United Kingdom Fulbright Research Scholar Award winner. That same year she received an additional award from the National Institute of Justice to lecture overseas on ‘Bridging the Gap between Research and Practice’. Dr. Zgoba is also the recipient of the American Correctional Association’s 2013 Peter P. Lejins Research Award – the highest award given for corrections research. She has been invited to serve as a Distinguished Lecturer at Rutgers University, the University of Pennsylvania and has testified before the U.S. Sentencing Commission regarding failure to register as a sex offender. Additionally, she is a Regional Editor for the American Journal of Criminal Justice, a member of the Research Council within the American Correctional Association and is a member of the Sexual Assault Advisory Council for the Prison Rape Elimination Act in New Jersey. Dr. Zgoba also serves on the Board of Directors at the Edna Mahan State Correctional Facility for women in New Jersey.
Dr. Zgoba serves as an expert in sexual violence cases and registration challenges across the country and is currently serving as Chair of the FIU SB-Institutional Review Board (IRB). Dr. Zgoba has published over 55 peer-reviewed articles; some of her publications appear in the Journal of Experimental Criminology, Prison Journal, Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, Justice Quarterly and Criminal Justice and Behavior.