Gina Ligon, Ph.D.
Jack and Stephanie Koraleski Chair of Collaboration Science Professor, Management and Leadership, College of Business Administration
Director of NCITE
Gina Ligon director of NCITE, is an internationally known industrial/organizational psychologist with proven terrorism expertise in the academic & policy spheres.
Biography
Gina Ligon, Ph.D., is the founder and director of the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center (NCITE) at UNO.
NCITE is a Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence with over 30 academic partners in the U.S. and Europe.
Ligon also serves as a principal investigator on an international project that aims to grow counterterrorism expertise globally.
She serves on the advisory board of CREST, the U.S.-based Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats.
Ligon’s research spans organizational structures and leadership in violent ideological groups. With over 80 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, her work has been featured in Homeland Security News Wire, The Independent, and The Washington Post, and she is the co-editor of the forthcoming De Gruyter academic publishing Psychology of Terrorism Handbook.
In 2025, Ligon was honored with the "Innovation, Development, and Engagement Award," one of the University of Nebraska System’s most prestigious distinctions, presented as part of the President’s Excellence Awards.
In the News
"’Why Omaha?’: DHS bets on Nebraska as the future of terrorism research” - The Washington Post
“'They've never stopped thinking about us': NCITE breaks down ISIS-K terror attack in Russia” - KETV
"Rising Threats to Public Officials: A Review of 10 Years of Federal Data” - Homeland Security News Wire
Areas of Expertise
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