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Cynthia Lum, Ph.D.
Director
Dr. Cynthia Lum is a Distinguished University Professor of Criminology, Law and Society and Director of George Mason University’s Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy. She is a leading authority on evidence-based policing, an approach that advocates that research, evaluation, and scientific processes should have “a seat at the table” in law enforcement policymaking and practice. Prof. Lum has studied and written extensively about patrol operations and police crime prevention activities, police technology, investigations and detective work, and evidence-based crime policy. Additionally, she has developed numerous tools and strategies to translate and institutionalize research into everyday law enforcement operations. Her and Professor Christopher Koper's book on these topics--Evidence-Based Policing: Translating Research Into Practice (Oxford University Press)--received the American Society of Criminology Division of Policing 2020 Outstanding Book Award.
Professor Lum is an elected Fellow of the American Society of Criminology (ASC) and the 2023 recipient of ASC's Herbert Bloch Award and the Distinguished Scholar Award for the Division of Policing. She is an appointed member of the Committee on Law and Justice (CLAJ) for the National Academies of Sciences (NAS), and has served on the NAS’s ad hoc committees on Proactive Policing and Evidence to Advance Reform in the Global Security and Justice Sectors. She is a Board Trustee of the Council on Criminal Justice and a Board Director for the National Police Foundation. Prof. Lum is the founding editor of Translational Criminology Magazine and Editor-in Chief (with Professor Christopher Koper) of Criminology & Public Policy, the flagship policy journal of the American Society of Criminology.
Professor Lum is the recipient of the 2017 inaugural Mason Presidential Medal for Excellence in Social Impact and the 2020 Virginia State Council for Higher Education Outstanding Faculty Award.