Transcript

Derek Smith:

Hello, and welcome to Baylor Connections, a conversation series with the people shaping our future. Each week, we go in depth with Baylor leaders, professors and more, discussing important topics in higher education, research and student life. I'm Derek Smith and our guest today is Dr. Stacie Petter. Dr. Petter serves as the Ben H. Williams Professor of Information Systems and Business Analytics in Baylor's Hankamer School of Business. Petter's research focuses on the impacts of information systems, research methodology, and information systems, project management. She served as the chair of the Data Sciences Committee at Baylor, one of five signature academic initiatives of Illuminate, the university's strategic plan. With a passion to serve those lost or forgotten in society, Dr. Petter developed an interest in the fight against human trafficking, applying her information systems discipline, to address societal need. This year, she and Dr. Laurie Giddens, a Baylor graduate and professor at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, were awarded a $250,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, that will allow them to form an interdisciplinary team to address human trafficking by equipping agencies, with an understanding of the technology that will allow them to combat trafficking in their area. It's been a busy time and she's with us today, here on Baylor Connections. Dr. Petter, thanks so much for joining us. It's great to have you on the program today.

Stacie Petter:

Thanks for having me. It's great to be here.

Derek Smith:

Well, and it's an appropriate time for us to visit, given the way you apply your discipline, as we said, to address some important societal challenges. January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. So what does it mean for you, to have a role to play in combating this?

Stacie Petter:

It's a great question. It's so easy in our day-to-day lives to forget that slavery is still in practice today. Many think about slavery as a practice that ended two centuries ago, but modern slavery is very real and around us, whether we can see it or not. But we do have different names for slavery now. We sometimes refer to as forced labor or human trafficking, which is the use of force, fraud or coercion to compel another person to engage in labor or commercial sexual acts. It's really just this form of human exploitation. Often though, I think movies and TV give us a different point of view about human trafficking. We seem to think that this is something that happens in other countries, when an American goes to some other country, they're kidnapped and smuggled to another location and forced to engage in some form of forced labor. That does happen but human trafficking is something that's also really close to home. So in every city, sometimes in our own suburbs or our own neighborhoods or extended social groups, there are people being forced to perform services on behalf of someone else. And there's many ways in which individuals can get pulled into these situations, in which they become a victim of human trafficking. So this month in particular, as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, it's something that's important to remember, that human trafficking isn't another country's problem. It's not another states problem. It's not another city's problem. It's our problem. It's something that we need to be aware of. We need to discuss, and we need to take action by speaking out about the problems and discussing how we can be part of the solution. So in terms of what it means for me, to be part of playing a role in combating human trafficking, it's really difficult to put into words. But I'll say that, I really appreciate that I can use my talents and skills as a researcher, who understands what is information systems and how to conduct responsible research, in a way that allows me to make a difference in society and individual's lives. So being able to help spread the word about the importance of human trafficking and being able to use my talents and abilities, to try to demonstrate how we can use what we've been given by God to make a difference in society, is really meaningful at this time.

Derek Smith:

Well, Dr. Petter, you talk about your discipline. And I think, if people hear a professor at a business school, they don't automatically think, the fight against human trafficking. As we put those together, could you give us a little more of a picture of what your discipline looks like in information systems and business analytics? How should we envision that the work that you and your students and your colleagues are doing on a daily basis and really, how it impacts all of us in some way?

Stacie Petter:

Sure. So information systems is one of these disciplines that a lot of people don't really know exactly what it means and probably depending on who you ask, you might get a slightly different answer. A lot of people think I work in the IT department, but really what it is, we are an academic discipline that examines how people and organizations create, manage, use, and are impacted by information technology. And so in a business school, we often study how organizations create, manage and use information technology. But increasingly, we are looking at how individuals or how society is impacted by information technology. And so given what I do, as an information systems researcher, there's a lot of things that, and problems that I think are really fascinating and interesting and how I've built and established my career are really fascinating, intellectual problems, that do have an impact on business, but it really hasn't had an opportunity to create a societal impact. And so this is one of the first times where I've been able to create some synergy between some personal interests that I have, in terms of trying to be a positive force in this fight against human trafficking and blending the research that I perform, as well. And while it doesn't necessarily translate into the classroom, I teach a course on analytics to graduate students. Human trafficking doesn't necessarily play a role in that particular class, but it does open up some great conversations with students on how we can use data to address different societal problems, wherever we are. There's also an opportunity that no matter really, what industry you're in or what you might be doing, there might be a way for you to look at ways where you can use data or your interests or your passions, or whatever locale or city you're in, to make a difference, whether it's in the domain of human trafficking or other social issues, in which you have an interest.

Derek Smith:

Visiting with Dr. Stacy Petter. And help us envision a little bit more now, how that does dovetail? How do information systems dovetail, especially as we get into the grant you received here in a few moments, how that works together? Particularly as it relates also, to the challenges that people face in trying to free someone and to pursue justice?

Stacie Petter:

Absolutely. So human trafficking is a really complex problem and has a lot of dimensions to it. And so there's some great work being done at Baylor University and other locations, by nonprofits and by academics. Really focusing on, how do we rescue victims and how do we help them as they've survived the atrocities of human trafficking? How do we help them learn how to cope with their day-to-day lives and their survival so that they can be able to make their place in society. And that's really important work. It would be heartbreaking work for me. I'm certainly not trained. I don't know how to do that type of work, but it's really important work that a lot of people are doing. There's also some really great work that's being done on how to educate and prevent human trafficking by making sure people are aware, what are those triggers that pull people into that human trafficking lifestyle or that type of scenario where they might become a victim. And again, really important work, but that doesn't really overlap very well with information technology and information systems. So for me, how I've been able to apply my knowledge of information systems to human trafficking is information technology, is a key part of how human trafficking takes place. There are many victims that are recruited online. Many financial transactions are performed using technology. Engagement between traffickers, victims and buyers, tend to happen through cell phones, smartphones, online websites. Technology plays a role actually, in enabling human trafficking but technology can also be used to try to identify, detect and disrupt human trafficking activities. So this is where my research and my knowledge can come into play here. I'm able to understand more about how information technology is used in business settings, this is an illicit business, but it's still a business. We can understand how information technology is being used to exploit people and then try to find ways to help law enforcement, criminal justice system professionals, find ways to use technology in order to find these victims, find these traffickers, to help the victims get out of their situation and be rescued and bring those traffickers to justice. So that's where my piece of this puzzle comes in, is really looking at the role of information technology. How it's being used by criminals and how it's being used by law enforcement and how we can use this understanding of information technology to create a positive difference.

Derek Smith:

This is Baylor Connections. We are visiting with Dr. Stacie Petter, a Ben H. Williams Professor of Information Systems and Business Analytics, in Baylor's Hankamer School of Business and talking about the grant Dr. Petter got. Let's dive into that a little bit more. You and Dr. Laurie Giddens, a former student of yours in the PhD program at Baylor, now a professor at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. You both received a $250,000 planning grant to fight human trafficking and a lot of the foundation for that was built on work that you all had done together. So could you tell us a little bit about that relationship, Deliver Fund and how the two of you became involved with them?

Stacie Petter:

Sure. So we have a story about how this project and how we began to use this research on human trafficking and information technology, how it came about. So Laurie Giddens and I, when she was a student at Baylor University, a PhD student, we found that we both had this soft spot in our hearts for human trafficking, we realized it's such an important societal problem. And this is not a conversation most people have, is that, "Hey, I have an interest in trying to fight human trafficking." But we found we had the shared interest. And as a PhD student, she was working on her dissertation in another area with a different faculty member. And really the timing didn't really work out for us to pursue a project in this space. She moved on to her new university at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville and was working on projects there. And then all of a sudden, she calls me one day, that she had heard about this podcast, about an organization called Deliver Fund. And she thought that this could be a way that we might be able to study, how information technology is used in the fight against human trafficking. So Deliver Fund is an organization. They use a public, private partnership model and they use technology and proactive investigation techniques to try to help train and support law enforcement agencies on how to fight human trafficking. So we essentially, reached out to Deliver Fund, asked if we could be a partner with them and collaborate with them, to learn more about how information technology is used in their organization to fight human trafficking, and they really opened up their doors. So I'm particularly grateful to Michael Fullilove, he is the Director of Operations for Deliver Fund. And he's just opened up his doors. He's let us attend some trainings to observe. We've talked to Deliver Fund staff. They've put us in touch with people who've gone through their training programs. And we're so grateful to all the law enforcement officers we've talked to, over the past year and a half or so, to get an understanding of how information technology is used in the context of human trafficking investigations. And what are some of the opportunities to improve the use of technology, what are some of those barriers and challenges that they experienced in the use of technology. And so it helps us get this rich understanding about, what we know from research and what research tells us about why people use technology and how that is maybe different, or has some similarities to some of the challenges that are faced in law enforcement agencies. So Deliver Fund has been just this great partner that's helped us get access to understand more about this issue, in a way that we wouldn't have, in trying to pursue this topic in any other way.

Derek Smith:

Visiting with Dr. Stacie Petter. And Deliver Fund, a great organization, as you say. And I know there's a lot of organizations out there that fight human trafficking and you were connected to them. What is special to you? You did a great job describing what they do, but what is particularly special to you, about them and the way they go about it?

Stacie Petter:

So, one thing that's interesting about Deliver Fund, is they are very focused on proactive human trafficking investigations. So often what happens in the law enforcement community in many locales, unless they have enough of a resource environment where they have staffing to be devoted to full-time human trafficking investigations, which is a rarity in the United States. But most of the time, human trafficking investigations only happen if a victim cries out and asks for help. So the victim has to come to law enforcement or be notified or say, "I want help. I want out." Most victims don't actually make this outcry, they don't cry out for help for a variety of reasons. Obviously, they've been engaged in performing illegal activity. If they've been forced to engage in prostitution or other acts, many of them might have a drug addiction that might have pulled them into human trafficking, or they became addicted to drugs as a victim of human trafficking. So they're not super-friendly or ready to talk to law enforcement because they know these victims will often have some of their own challenges that make them skeptical of law enforcement. So getting an outcry of a victim is a fairly rare activity, in terms of how we can pursue human trafficking investigations. So what Deliver Fund does, that's a bit different, is that they are very proactive. They teach and train and support law enforcement in coming up with proactive strategies, to identify victims and identify traffickers before they ask for help. Deliver Fund has a rich group of technology partners that they've worked with to develop these strategies that can be used specifically in the fight against human trafficking and to identify potential victims. And so, given their emphasis on this proactive approach, to be a more active participant in the fight against human trafficking and their interest in using technology to support this, it just seemed like this great alignment for an opportunity to collaborate.

Derek Smith:

Well, you've been collaborating with them and you'll continue to, and it sounds like you're expanding the circle of collaboration a little bit through this NSF planning grant, National Science Foundation grant. What steps will that allow you to take in the months ahead?

Stacie Petter:

Yes, this National Science Foundation grant is so exciting because we're going to be able to broaden our research and bring in new perspectives. So one limitation that Laurie Giddens and I have had so far, is that we are both information systems researchers. So we look at the world from the perspective of information systems. We view the world in a very systems oriented way. We have our own specific methods and techniques. And so we're fairly limited, at different ways in which we can understand this problem, because we're both from the same research tradition. So what this grant affords us to do, is to expand the group and expand perspectives. So as we've talked about, human trafficking is complicated, multi-dimensional, it's a wicked problem. We're not going to move the needle to eliminate or reduce human trafficking if we just keep approaching it with very limited viewpoints of the world. So what this grant is going to allow us to do, is to build a multidisciplinary research team. Our effort is going to bring in people from a range of disciplines. We want experts in supply chain and engineering and networks and all different types of domains, beyond business, beyond information systems, to really try to tackle this problem from a broader perspective. To look at how information technology is used by criminals? How information is being used by law enforcement, so we can detect, disrupt and dismantle these criminal networks. So it's exciting to have this rich range of perspectives from both an academic perspective, but the other part that's really exciting to us, is being able to include criminal justice system professionals on this multidisciplinary research team as well. It's one thing to sit in my office and come up with some great idea of an intervention that I think will create this way to change the world of human trafficking. But it's a different thing for a law enforcement officer to say, "It's a great idea, but we can't actually do that, or that wouldn't happen in my department." So we need that perspective that can help us know what types of interventions and activities and research is necessary, is feasible, is usable. So that's the exciting part. We're going to get a range of perspectives, not just from academics, but also those who have their boots on the ground, that are fighting this fight every day and can help us know, does this really make sense for us to put time and effort into studying this topic or developing interventions on this topic, can it actually be used? Because the goal is to make an impact for social good, with whatever we do through this research.

Derek Smith:

You mentioned that this is a planning grant. What is that and what opportunities does that present down the road?

Stacie Petter:

Absolutely. So a planning grant is a pretty exciting grant opportunity available, occasionally through the National Science Foundation. So when we pursued this grant, it's a new program at the National Science Foundation and so they offered an opportunity for applicants this year, to submit a planning grant or a traditional research grant. So what a planning grant affords us to do, is to take the time to understand what it is we need to do to pursue these larger scale research problems. So where Dr. Giddens and I are in this process, Laurie and I were realizing, we need to expand the team, but we didn't have the resources to expand the team. And we certainly wouldn't have had the resources to expand the team and the time required to apply for a grant. So what this grant allows us to do, is to have those resources and funding, to create this multidisciplinary team. And what we'll do with this team, is then we're going to use the ideas that we generate from this partnership with academics and professionals. To come up with ideas to support larger grants, larger scale research projects, that can be externally funded and supported through the National Science Foundation or other private foundations or other external funding opportunities in order to really expand the scope of this research program. The other thing that we can do with this grant, and we will do with this grant, is everything we learn from these collaborations that we have with academics and professionals, we're going to turn this into training materials, that Deliver Fund will help us with disseminating to the criminal justice community as part of the grant. So everything we learned from this process, it's not just to be used by academics. We're going to also use our findings to try to create an impact and share new insights with the law enforcement community.

Derek Smith:

That's very exciting as we visited with Dr. Stacie Petter here on Baylor Connections, heading into the final couple of minutes here on the program. And Dr. Petter, I know you've talked about your work in the data sciences and Baylor has a focus on the data sciences through Illuminate. And also, ethics in that, which is certainly what we've been talking about here together over the last 20 minutes or so. When you think about the role of ethics in data sciences, more than just the numbers, more than just the data, but applying it as you have to something like human trafficking. What does it mean to you to be a part of that here at Baylor, and what opportunities does it present for a university, to be able to apply their resources, their time and their focus, to not just the how, but also really a lot of the why and what's important?

Stacie Petter:

That's a great question. Ethics should be an undercurrent of everything we do as a scholar, as a teacher, as a professional, as a community member. And I think what's important to think about, and with our focus on ethics as the Baylor University Community, we can think about, how we're developing solutions from a broader perspective? So in the case of human trafficking, as we think about data and how we can use this data and analyze data, to try to identify and detect human trafficking activity and disrupt this activity, we're trying to do something that is good, a societal good. We're trying to address the problem of human trafficking, but we have to be aware that as we try to do good, we could do harm as well and we need to incorporate that as part of our research approach. So for example, we might use more advanced information technologies and this is currently being used. So we're using technologies like artificial intelligence and forms of machine learning specifically, to analyze photographs, to try to identify individuals who might be victims of human trafficking. But as we're analyzing photographs online, we're violating the privacy of people, right? So if you're a victim, you don't mind because you've been rescued, if it's used to help rescue you, but if you're not a victim, then now I violated your privacy. We can have errors, and if we're analyzing photographs to identify victims or traffickers using technology, and maybe it leads to the arrest of the wrong person, as we use photographic imaging and trying to match people to other photographs. So what's the ethical implication if we arrest the wrong person? And so just this really small example of analyzing photographs to identify human trafficking activity, it's an example of how so many ethical issues can play a role, when we try to think about how we use data, how we analyze data to try to do social good. So we have to think about this balance to try to avoid harm to society, while trying to protect those who are being exploited. And unfortunately, those who are exploiting others, aren't following the same ethical standards that most of us are following in a society. So it gets to these really complicated and thorny issues of how do we protect society as a whole, while we also protect those who are being exploited by others.

Derek Smith:

Well, that's very important work and Dr. Stacie Petter, I thank you for taking the time to share with us. Congrats to you and Dr. Giddens on the NSF grant and we'll be excited to see what the fruits of that work are in the months and years ahead. Thank you so much for sharing with us today.

Stacie Petter:

Thanks for having me.

Derek Smith:

Dr. Stacie Petter, Ben H. Williams, Professor of Information Systems and Business Analytics in Baylor's Hankamer School of Business, our guest today here on Baylor Connections. I'm Derek Smith. A reminder that you can hear this and other programs online at baylor.edu/connections, and you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Thanks for joining us here on Baylor Connections.