Agenda
Friday April 17, 2026
Venue: Aerospace and Engineering Sciences Building, Metropolitan University of Denver
Address: 1449 7th St, Denver, CO 80204
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 10:00 AM – 10:20 AM | Networking |
| 10:30 AM – 10:50 AM | Welcome and Presentation by Session Chair, Dr. Charles Hounmenou, Associate Professor, Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois, Chicago Title: “Estimating and Examining the Population of Child Domestic Work in Côte d’Ivoire” |
| 10:55 AM – 11:15 AM | Title: “Using LLMs to Detect Online Recruitment for Human Trafficking” Dr. Indrakshi Ray, Professor of Computer Science, Colorado State University; Dr. Hossein Shirazi, Assistant Professor of Management Information Systems, San Diego State University; Shri Meenakshi S., PSG College of Technology; Dr. Kurunandan Jain, Assistant Professor, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, India; Pavithra S. P., Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, India; Dr. Krishnashree Achuthan, Ph D. Professor and Dean of Post Graduate programs, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, CEO, Amrita Technology Business Incubator, India. |
| 11:20 AM – 11:40 AM | Title: “Investigating the Effectiveness of a Continuum of Care for Victims of Transnational Trafficking” Submitted by: Dr. Christopher Blocker (Colorado State University), Dr. Colleen Harmeling (Florida State University), and Dr. Elina Tang (Northern Illinois University). Presenter: Dr. Chris Blocker, Tracy Family Faculty Fellow and Professor of Marketing, Colorado State University |
| 11:40 AM – 12:40 PM | Lunch break and networking |
| 12:45 PM – 1:45 PM | Keynote Ian Hassell, CEO of The Network |
| 1:45 PM – 2:00 PM | Break into two rooms |
| 2:00 PM – 2:20 PM | Room 1 Title: ”Dark Enigma: Indexing the Dark Web to Disrupt Human Trafficking Networks” Submitted by: Angela Fleenor, Steve Beaty and Annjanette Alejano-Steele Presenters: Dr. Annjanette Alejano-Steele (AJ) Professor, College of Health and Human Sciences, Metropolitan State University of Denver and Dr. Steve Beaty, Professor of Computer Science, Metropolitan State University of Denver Room 2 Title: “Cross border trafficking: Geographies, typologies and experiences of trafficking in persons across the US-Mexico border” Session Chair, Dr. Karrin Anderson, Professor of Communication Studies, Colorado State University Presenter: Dr. Audrey Lumley-Sapanski, Assistant Professor of Geography, Colorado Mesa University; Visiting Assistant Professor of Human Trafficking and Migration, The Rights Lab, University of Nottingham |
| 2:25 PM – 2:45 PM | Room 1 Title: “IMB Watch: A Spatio-Temporal Graph Neural Network Framework to Detect Illicit Massage Businesses” Dr. Shweta Varadarajan, Faculty, Seattle University; Dr. Abhishek Ray, Assistant Professor, Information Systems and Operations Management, Costello College of Business George Mason University; Dr. Lumina S. Albert, Associate Professor, College of Business, Colorado State University Room 2 Title: “Assessing Anti-Trafficking Campaigns: Insights for Research and Pedagogy” Presenter: Dr. Karrin Anderson, Professor of Communication Studies, Colorado State University Title: “Cross border trafficking: Geographies, typologies and experiences of trafficking in persons across the US-Mexico border” |
| 2:50 PM – 3:10 PM | Room 1 Title: “Measuring and Understanding Forced Child Begging in Côte d’Ivoire” Presenter: Dr. Charles Hounmenou, Associate Professor, Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois, Chicago Room 2 Title: “Not the enemy: Sex workers as experts on human trafficking prevention and intervention” Dr. Veronica Shepp, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Montana State University |
| 3:15 PM – 3:30 PM | Discussions and conclusions, Session Chair: Dr. Charles Hounmenou |
| 3: 35 PM – 5:00 PM | Networking/End of Conference |
