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LiYing Li, Ph.D.
Professor – Criminal Justice & Criminology,
Dr. LiYing Li is a professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology. She has a Ph.D. in Sociology and M.S. in Demography. Her primary teaching interests are criminal behaviors. Currently, she teaches serial killers, sex offenders, introduction to criminal justice systems and corrections. She has also taught in the past classes such as statistics, research methods, crime mapping and criminological theories. Dr. Li has played an essential role in creating the B.S. in Cybersecurity program from the ground up and developing the Cybersecurity curriculum.
Denise Mowder, J.D., Ph.D.
Professor | Interim Director – Criminal Justice & Criminology
Dr. Mowder is an Associate Professor and Interim Director of the Criminal Justice and Criminology Department at the Metropolitan State University of Denver. She is also an attorney and for over ten years was a prosecutor in Oregon. She specialized in prosecuting cases of domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual assault. Her expertise is in trial practice, investigations and victim advocacy. She earned her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Washington State University and her J.D. from Willamette College of Law at Willamette University in Salem Oregon. She received her B.S. at the University of Colorado, Denver.
Her research area focuses on the impact of current immigration law and the undocumented battered Latina woman. In particular, does the fear of deportation outweigh the fear of being battered? She is also doing research in the wrongful conviction of the factually innocent.
She loves teaching criminal justice courses because when she was a prosecutor there wasn’t a day when she didn’t interact with the police, judges, defense attorneys, victims, and offenders. It is important to understand the theoretical groundwork but she never forgets about “doing justice” in the real world. It is important to understand the theoretical groundwork for this class; however, she doesn’t want you to forget about the real world.
Steve Beaty, Ph.D.
Professor – Computer Science
Steve Beaty, Ph.D., has an extensive background in both the theoretic and pragmatic aspects of computers and networks. He wrote compilers at Cray Computer, managed a large group of developers and was a software test architect at Hewlett-Packard. He was also the security team lead at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. At the Metropolitan State University of Denver, Beaty is currently a professor of Computer Science and has served as chair of the Mathematical and Computer Sciences Department and interim vice-president for Information Technology.
Weiying Zhu, Ph.D.
Professor – Computer Science
Assoc. Chair
Before joining MSU Denver in 2011, Dr. Weiying Zhu worked as a software engineer for Lucent Technologies and as a professor at Hampton University. She earned her M.S. in Communication and Information Engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China before receiving her Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Old Dominion University in Virginia. Dr. Zhu has been honored with a plethora of awards for teaching and research, most recently for the Provost Teaching Innovation Award in 2010. Her expertise in computer science helped build the curriculum for the Cybersecurity degree at MSU Denver.
Feng Jiang, Ph. D.
Associate Professor | Chair – Computer Science Department
Dr. Feng Jiang got her PhD degree in Computer Engineering from Purdue University. She is currently an associate professor and Chair of the Computer Science Department, Metropolitan State University of Denver.
Janos Fustos, Ph.D.
Professor – Computer Information Systems
Janos T Fustos is a tenured professor in the Computer Information Systems & Business Analytics Department. He earned his doctorate in engineering management (1993), masters in chemical engineering (1982), and BS in factory operations management (1980) from the University of Veszprem (Hungary).
He is actively involved in service through his role of chairing the ABET accreditation committee in the CIS & BA Department and the AACSB Technology Committee in the School of Business as well as serving on the university-wide committees that determine IT strategies, policies, and procedures. He was a co-sponsor of a new interdisciplinary degree proposals related to health IS and cyber security areas.
Di Jia, Ph. D.
Assistant Professor- Criminal Justice & Criminology
As a former police officer in China, Di Jia, Ph.D., worked in the areas of intelligence analysis, incident command, international police cooperation, crisis management and counter-terrorism. Her expertise guided her to plan and implement security operations for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2018. She received her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University and published several peer-reviewed scholarly articles in journals across the world. Her research and teaching interests include police crisis management, counter-terrorism strategies, cybercrime and cybersecurity.
Shane Jackson
Lecturer – Computer Information Systems
Shane Jackson began his military career at Fort Benning, Georgia. He attended officer training school and has worked in European Command and African Command focusing on intelligence and information technology. He has also worked with NATO Partners focusing on support training security operations and incident response. In 2016 he worked for U.S. Army Europe where his position entailed identifying and analyzing trends and patterns, developing “lessons learned” as well as conducting interviews that are used to improve training and relations between us and NATO forces. He has a Master’s degree in computer science from the University of Denver and plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Cyber Security at the University Of Colorado at Denver.
Department Chairs
Dr. Henry Jackson Jr. M.P.A.
Interim Department Chair of Criminal Justice & Criminology
Dr. Feng Jiang
Department Chair of Computer Science
Dr. Abel Moreno
Department Chair of Computer Information Systems