Complex Social Interactions Lab
CSI Lab receives attention from elected officials
Washington State Governor Jay Inslee got an intimate, up-close look at WSU’s Complex Social Interaction Lab (CSI) when he visited the Pullman campus on October 25, 2024. He was accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Inslee, a WSU alumna. The CSI Lab highlights that student and faculty engagement, coupled with corporate partnership and agency involvement, generate data from body-worn camera footage that is instrumental in improving law enforcement training in the state and nationally.
DCJC Associate Professor and CSI Lab Principal Investigator David Makin presented a demonstration on body-worn camera police footage and shared how extracting data from these videos can benefit police training for real-world interactions. He further explained how using this data, garnered from various projects, such as observable Signs of Cognitive Impairment, De-escalation and non-escalation in Police Contacts, and Language Accessibility and Communication, can provide valuable information to law enforcement agencies throughout the country.
One of our Graduate Student Research Assistants, Christina Shellabarger, was able to discuss her role in training and being a resource for lab students. She also introduced undergraduate researcher, Breanna Niemi, who engaged in conversation on the coding of videos as well as balancing working in the CSI Lab with her WSU Marching Band and class schedule commitments.
Additionally, on November 20, 2024, Rep. Lowe toured the Complex Social Interactions Lab (CSI Lab) in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology during his visit. He met with Lab Director and co-founder David Makin (PhD); Christina Shellabarger, one of the lab managers; and co-founder Dale Willits (PhD). The CSI Lab uses Systematic Social Event Modeling to analyze footage from police officer body-worn cameras. This approach involves blending the best practices of systematic social observation and event modeling to deconstruct the recorded data. This methodology represents a significant advancement in converting archival footage into actionable data that can inform and improve public safety practices. The CSI Lab’s use of Systematic Social Event Modeling has enabled the lab to analyze over 40,000 hours of recorded footage, with nearly 400 students contributing to these efforts. More than 45 students are actively participating in the lab’s research initiatives this semester.
Rep. Lowe learned firsthand about the research being conducted in the CSI Lab and the critical role that undergraduate students play in advancing public safety research through their participation in the lab’s programs. He also had the opportunity to discuss these efforts with Makin and Willits, gaining a deeper understanding of the lab’s mission and goals and the intensive nine-week Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program hosted at WSU and funded by the National Science Foundation with co-funding from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) ASSURE program.
Welcoming our new lab administrator: Melissa Larson joins the team!
Melissa Larson joined the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology as the new lab administrator for the Complex Social Interactions Lab at the end of October. She comes to us after a four-and-a-half-year stint with Human Resource Services in Records here at WSU. Melissa will be taking on the administrative role for the CSI Lab by overseeing day-to-day activities.
Melissa grew up as an Army Brat living in New Jersey, California, Texas (twice), Missouri, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona. She settled in Auburn, Alabama, where she and her husband raised three children and a chocolate lab before moving to Pullman in October 2019. Since living in the area, she and her husband have begun exploring the Pacific Northwest and discovering it’s beauty. ”I’ve lived in a lot of places that have great natural attractions. I always thought that the sunrises and sunsets in Arizona couldn’t be beaten, until I moved to Pullman. This place has the most beautiful skies I’ve ever seen.”
In addition to weekend road trips through the PNW, Melissa enjoys watching college football, eating her way through a farmer’s market, and watching sappy Hallmark movies.