Nikolas Roberts

Adjunct Associate Professor

Department: Transformative Social Change
Institution: Saybrook University

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Biography

Nik Roberts, Ph.D., is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Transformative Social Change at Saybrook University and a tenured Associate Professor of Criminology and Conflict Resolution at Pennsylvania Western University. Dr. Roberts previously worked for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and with the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources program.

A qualitative researcher, Dr. Roberts studies institutional socialization and individual transformation in military and correctional settings, with particular attention to identity, power, prisonization, and soldierization. Additional interests include criminal psychology, wrongful convictions, solitary confinement, prison education, and correctional systems. He has supervised graduate research, including doctoral dissertations, using oral history, grounded theory, case study, narrative inquiry, and phenomenological methods.

Dr. Roberts is the editor and contributing author of Justice by the Numbers (2025), Crimescapes: Surveying Criminology from Classic Theory to Evolving Trends (2026), and The Law Behind the Wall (2027).

Based in Southwestern Pennsylvania, Dr. Roberts is a veteran of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard and has served as an Official Prison Visitor with the Pennsylvania Prison Society. Outside of his academic work, he enjoys playing guitar, collecting vinyl records, and spending time with his children.

Areas of Expertise

Area	Expertise
Business/IO Psychology	Leadership
Forensic Psychology	Death Penalty
	Prisons
Military Psychology	Deployment and Social Isolation Issues
Psychology	Educational Psychology
	Case Study
Research Design/Methodology	Grounded Theory
	Narrative Inquiry
	Phenomenology
Transformative Social Change	Conflict Resolution
	Peace and Justice Studies
	Social Theory
	Veterans Issues

Education History

Degree	Institution
Ph.D., Human/Social Science	Saybrook University
M.Ed., Educational Psychology	Pennsylvania Western University
M.A., Criminology	Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Postgraduate Certificate, Government	University of Cambridge
M.S., Law and Public Policy	California University of Pennsylvania

Professional Memberships

Role	Organization
Member	American Society of Criminology
Member	Pennsylvania Prison Society
Member	American Psychological Association
Member	Midwest Political Science Association

Licenses

Conflict Analysis, United States Institute of Peace

Negotiation and Conflict Management, United States Institute of Peace

Curriculum Vitae

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