Doctoral Student Bios

Timo Zheng

Community Health, Victimization (minority groups), Quantitative Law Study, Justice Policy Evaluations, Theoretical Statistics.

Timo is a doctoral student in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society at George Mason University. He received his Bachelor of Law from Shanghai University of Political Science and Law in 2018 and his Master of Social Science from the University of Macau in 2020. He also passed the Chinese Bar Examination. His research interests include community health, victimization among minority groups, quantitative legal studies, justice policy evaluation, and theoretical statistics. He enjoys teaching and is committed to improving student learning outcomes. At George Mason University, he taught CRIM 315: Research Methods and Analysis in Criminology during the Spring and Summer 2026 semesters.

Selected Publications

Journal Articles:

Gross Shader, C., Gill, C., Zheng, X., & Carleton, B. (2024). City government as super-controller: A systematic review of non-police mechanisms that city governments can apply to reduce crime at hot spots. Aggression and Violent Behavior,78,101957.

Report:

Charlotte Gill, Madeline McPherson, Xiaotian Zheng, & Claudia Gross Shader (2023): Rainier Beach Campus Safety Continuum. Report prepared for the National Institute of Justice.

Courses Taught

Spring 2026: CRIM-315-002 Research Methods and Analysis in Criminology, at GMU.

Education

2018 - 2020 University of Macau, MSS

2014 - 2018 Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, LLB

Recent Presentations

Xiaotian Zheng (2025): Bridging the Gap in Criminological Stats Education: An Instructional Guide to Advanced Custom Results in R, the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting 2023, D.C.

Xiaotian Zheng (2024): Understanding the Current Victimization of LGBTQ Group at the Community Level – Risk Factors and Post-victim Care, the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting 2024, CA

Charlotte Gill, Madeline McPherson, & Xiaotian Zheng (2023): Uniting Campus and Community: Extending PBIS and Restorative Practices from Schools to Neighborhoods, the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting 2023, PA

Xiaotian Zheng (2023, Poster): A Quantitative Research on the Statutory Sentencing Factors in China, the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting 2023, PA