Research Scientist - Florida Engineering Experiment Station

Read Hayes, PH.D.

Dr. Read Hayes serves as a Research Scientist (Criminologist) in the University of Florida’s Wertheim College of Engineering FLEX (Florida Engineering Experiment Station) to work closely with engineering and computer science faculty across the college, helping integrate human-centered design with software and hardware developments. Read also works to create real-world science to practice opportunities and testing, bringing cutting-edge AI, IoT, VR, and other technologies into retail, public, and other places and spaces.

Read has over 30 years of hands-on law enforcement, retailing, and research-based crime control experience in the US and over 20 countries. Dr. Hayes is also the Director of the outside 160 corporate member retailer-supplier-LE coalition Loss Prevention Research Council.

Read and his team has conducted over 300 project and place protection research projects, including 30 place-based RCTs (randomized controlled trials). His current research focus includes safeguarding the vulnerable by affecting offender decision-making at different geo-scales at the UF SaferPlaces Lab.

Read is a member of the American Society of Criminology and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences and is currently on the ASIS Retail Council. Dr. Hayes holds a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice/Criminology from the University of Florida and a Ph.D. in Criminology from the University of Leicester.