Meet one of our threat assessment students at the PPC!
We spoke with Lillian (Lily) Bopp whose research interests center on the assessment and management of individuals with sexual and stalking offenses, and the effectiveness of different intervention strategies used to manage the individuals engaged in such forms of violence.
About Lily
Lily is a first-year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Training Program (CPTP) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Lily received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Fordham University in New York. Following her undergraduate studies, Lily worked as a forensic case manager at EAC Network, a not-for-profit social service agency, where she provided reentry services to individuals with co-occurring disorders reentering from various New York State prisons. Later, she worked as a program coordinator, where she oversaw several state and federal grant-funded prison reentry, civil commitment, and drug court diversion programs. While pursuing her master’s degree, Lily’s worked as a research coordinator on a study examining neuropsychological functioning in sexual offenders with pedophilic disorder and as a supervisor for a parole diversion program for seriously mentally ill parolees in New York City.
Q&A with Lily Bopp
- What brings you to the Public Policy Center?
As a doctoral student in the CPTP at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, I am currently working under the mentorship of Dr. Mario Scalora, the director of the Public Policy Center (PPC), and am a member of Dr. Scalora’s Targeted Violence Research Lab. I am currently assigned to a graduate assistantship at the PPC for my first-year practicum placement and am engaged in threat assessment, school safety, and behavioral health research with Dr. Scalora and colleagues.
- What are you most passionate about learning and/or working on?
I am passionate about working on projects involving threat assessment, violence prevention, and school safety at the PPC. I am particularly interested in learning about the development and implementation of threat assessment procedures to address and intervene on various aspects of targeted violence. I am also eager to expand upon my prior professional work by getting involved in behavioral health initiatives at the PPC and gaining further insight into the vast implications of policy on society.
- How do you think this experience will help you work towards your goals for the future?
Following my graduate studies, I am interested in pursuing a clinical administrative role in a forensic hospital or prison and leading research initiatives to inform evidence-based public policy. Given these interests, the opportunity to work at the PPC will be a valuable experience that will help me work towards a career in addressing the complex issues that our society faces. I am excited to assist on a variety of policy-focused research projects and look forward to developing an enhanced understanding of how researchers and policymakers can effectively collaborate to address challenges in public policy.
- What is something you are passionate about outside of your work as a student?
Outside of my work as a doctoral student, I am very passionate about volunteering. Previously, I spent time volunteering at an orphanage in Bogotá, Colombia, and with children with autism spectrum disorder that I taught to surf through guided lessons. I am also passionate about animal rescue and volunteered at an animal shelter before moving to Lincoln for graduate school. I look forward to expanding on my volunteer work in my free time and hope to get involved with a local animal shelter in Lincoln.