Our Faculty and Staff

Marcelo Castro, Ph.D., is an Associate Dean/Professor at the School of Criminal Justice. Until 2014, Dr. Castro was a Director of Academic and Faculty Support overseeing the Applied Research Center research curriculum, among other responsibilities. He is also a licensed School Psychologist with expertise in assessment of emotional and behavioral disorders in children. He holds dual Master’s in Clinical Psychology and Mental Health Counseling along with a Ph.D. in Special Education. In addition to his responsibilities as a Director, Dr. Castro was been a program professor at the Nova Southeastern University—Abraham S. Fischler College of Education for the past 11 years. Prior to this, he was a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Miami for a period of 5 years. He has taught assessment and measurement, research design and methods, statistics and program evaluation throughout his work as a professor over the past 14 years. In addition, he has been Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) in several program evaluation and evaluation research projects. Some of these activities involved: 

• Research partner (evaluation director) of project M-PACT, a comprehensive multi-layered approach to curb street gang activity in Miami Dade.
• Research Partner in task force that developed OJJDP’s Best Practices Manual as a result of the project mentioned above.
• Co-PI on the evaluation of the “One plan-One response Crisis Management Initiative Program” conducted by the School District of Palm Beach County Police Department.
• Primary Investigator for Project COATCH, a grant secured by Broward County from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to provide services to homeless men and women with co-occurring disorders.