Researcher Seeks to Harmonize Forensic Data

Stephanie Hartwell, associate professor and director of the Graduate Program in Applied Sociology, has received a prestigious $817,000 stimulus grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to help fund her research into the effectiveness of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health (DMH) Forensic Transition Team (FTT), a community re-entry program for post-incarcerated adults with serious mental illnesses.

Hartwell’s study design uses merged administrative data from various state agencies from 2007 to 2010, making it the first-ever initiative in Massachusetts under a co-operative agreement that will harmonize the databases maintained by individual state agencies to assess the efficacy of a unique re-entry program for individuals with mental disorders.

“It’s a great study because it involves collaboration with big state agencies and it uses a creative approach to secondary sources,” Hartwell explains.