Dr. Gia Elise Barboza-Salerno is an Assistant Professor whose work bridges social work, public health, law, and statistics. Their research examines how neighborhood conditions and environmental exposures shape violence-related harm across the life course—including child maltreatment, intimate partner violence, and gun violence—with a focus on equity and structural accountability. Methodologically, their work integrates Bayesian spatial and spatiotemporal modeling, geospatial machine learning, and remote sensing to translate complex data into actionable prevention and policy.

Dr. Barboza-Salerno has published on violence prevention, environmental and spatial determinants of health, and justice-oriented applications of data science, with recent work appearing in Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy, Child Maltreatment, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, and Journal of Urban Health. They lead collaborative, community-engaged projects that center marginalized populations and emphasize place-based, trauma-informed prevention.

Their research utilizes nationally representative datasets and administrative records, quasi-experimental designs, and advanced longitudinal methods, including Growth Mixture Modeling, Parallel Process Modeling, and Bayesian space–time approaches.

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Additional appointments

• Center for Regional and Urban Analysis (CURA), Affiliated Faculty, The Ohio State University
• Translational Data Analytics Institute (TDAI), Affiliated Faculty, The Ohio State University

Certifications

• Licensed Attorney, 2018 — State of Maine
• Licensed Attorney, 2020 — State of Colorado
• Licensed Attorney, 2023 — State of Ohio
• Licensed Attorney, 2023 — Southern District of Ohio (Federal)

Awards and honours

• Tony Tripodi Prize for Research Excellence, OSU College of Social Work (2025)
• 6th Annual Article of the Year, International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect (2023)
• PhD Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award, OSU College of Social Work (2023)
• Instructional Technology Award, Michigan State University, Virtual University (2005)
• Outstanding Teaching Award, Michigan State University, Office of Graduate Studies (2002)
• GlaxoSmithKline Scholar Award for Applied Statistics, Biomedical Data Sciences (2006)
• Woman’s Law Caucus Scholarship, Michigan State University
• Jurisprudence Awards (Constitutional Law I; Contracts II; Legal Theory; Conflict of Laws; Property)