Reimagining Justice Lab

The Reimagining Justice Lab is looking for research assistants for summer 2026. This is a great opportunity to engage with a lively group of fellow undergraduates, explore what social scientific research can be like, gain experience, and be part of a wonderful team of researchers. The Reimagining Justice Lab is a collaborative research group based out of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and led by Professor Joshua Kaiser. Together, we work together to research the ways laws, state actions, and state crimes produce and are produced by intersectional oppression. This work incorporates evidence and perspectives of justice based in social systems, community accountability, and transformative change. Research for this term will be on the causes and consequences of the hidden penal state in the United States. Various teams take on different aspects of the research, including digitization of archival documents, legislative tracing, qualitative data collection of historical evidence, computational modeling, and statistical cleaning and analysis. We take equity and inclusion very seriously in hiring and mentorship, so we especially encourage members of historically underrepresented groups to apply.

Research assistants should expect to conduct research tasks independently and diligently, and to share results routinely with a research team, so self-motivation, problem-solving, and a willingness to engage with Professor Kaiser and peers is required. All teams will meet initially meet on a weekly basis while team members are learning their tasks, after which some teams may switch to biweekly (once every other week). For more information on available teams for the coming term, please see this Google form.

To apply, please complete the all three of the following items by Tuesday, April 28 at 5:00am. Please email joshuakaiser@umass.edu with any questions.

1. Complete the remainder of this PROPEL application.
   1. EITHER (1) upload a resume OR (2) describe your prior work, life experiences and goals in the "About Me" section of the PROPEL application.
   2. Respond to this Essay Prompt in the PROPEL application: "What interests you about joining the Reimagining Justice Lab? What unique contributions do you believe you may bring to the lab, from your background, prior research, academics, interests, perspectives, or other experiences?"
2. Complete this Google Form. Instructions are in the form.
3. Fill out this Scheduling Poll. Instructions are at the top of the poll.
   • If you do not yet know your entire schedule, fill out the times you are certain you are available. We will be scheduling teams as we evaluate applications. If you wish to add additional availability later, you may email or fill out the scheduling poll again.