Dr. Krysta Dawson receives Dean's Convocation Medal

As one of SFU's most outstanding graduate students from the School of Criminology, Dr. Krysta Dawson is recognized with the Dean of Graduate Studies Convocation Medal. On behalf of SFU, we congratulate Dr. Dawson on her outstanding achievements.

Dr. Dawson’s doctoral thesis, “Capital Gains: Examining the role of gang members personal networks and criminal careers” scrutinizes the network trajectories of gang members’, highlighting how social proximity to gang members and the organization of an individual’s personal network can prolong involvement in the criminal justice system.

Dr. Dawson’s contribution extends well beyond her written thesis. Along with many academic achievements and publications, Dr. Dawson has been the recipient of a Joseph Bombardier Doctoral Scholarship SSHRC and a Crime Reduction and Research Program Grant, among many others. Dr. Dawson was recently invited to present at the American Psychological Law and Society Annual Conference in Denver, Colorado.

Dr. Dawson’s external thesis examiner, Dr. David Pyrooz of the University of Colorado Boulder suggests that Dr. Dawson’s research,“breaks ground in several areas that were simply unknown up to this point.”

Dr. Dawson’s doctoral research led to her working with the Organized Crime Agency of British Columbia where she using social network analysis to better understand organized crime groups.