Mavericks Ending Technology-Facilitated Abuse (MAVS ETA)

We are an interdisciplinary research team led by scholars from the University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work, College of Engineering, and College of Liberal Arts. Our work aims to identify and respond to tactics of Technology Facilitated Abuse (TFA) via research, training, and technical support. We engage students, community partner agencies, and survivors of TFA living in North Texas to document needs related to TFA and develop and test educational and technical solutions to help promote safety and wellbeing.

You can read more about our work with community partners in North Texas in a recent Fort Worth Star-Telegram article about our work.

Flyer about Technology Facilitated Abuse, including examples and assessment techniques

Faculty Leaders

Dr. Rachel Voth Schrag, PhD LCSW, Associate Professor and PhD Program Director in the School of Social Work, has two decades of experience with research and practice with survivors of interpersonal violence. Her work addresses secondary and tertiary prevention of interpersonal violence through developing and evaluating survivor centered services.  Her work has been funded by the National Institutes of Justice and the Office on Violence Against Women in the U.S. Department of Justice. Dr. Voth Schrag is the Project Director and co-founder of the Mavericks Ending Technology-Facilitated Abuse (MAVS ETA) project at UTA, aiming to harness the combined power of cybersecurtiy and social work professionals to make a meaningful difference for survivors and service providers addressing TFA.

Dr. Morgan PettyJohn, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) with over a decade of practice and research experience working with survivors of interpersonal violence. Her research explores the intersections of survivor experiences with digital technologies, recognizing the role technology can play in both victimization and help seeking. Dr. PettyJohn is a co-founder and current Clinic Director of the Mavericks Ending Technology-Facilitated Abuse (MAVS ETA) project at UTA. MAVS ETA works with two of the largest victim service providers for intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and trafficking in North Texas to train practitioners on how to identify and respond to technology-facilitated abuse (TFA). MAVS ETA also provides direct technical support to survivors in North Texas who experience complex forms of TFA through consultation sessions facilitated by UTA graduate students in social work and cybersecurity.

Dr. Shirin Nilizadeh, PhD, Associate Professor in the College of Engineering, head of the Security and Privacy Research Lab in the College of Engineering.  The lab conducts data-driven research to study online security, privacy and safety. Their research is interdisciplinary and spans across multiple areas, from traditional security and privacy research to data science and social computing research. They are crucial collaborators on the MAVS ETA project.

Dr. Grace Brannon, Associate Professor in the College of Liberal Arts

  • Student Affiliates
    • School of Social Work
      • Lecia Edwards, MSW (2025 Graduate)
      • Nichola Rowan, MSW Student
      • Aliana Ruiz, MSW Student
      • Amna Hamdan, MSW Student
      • Christina Mecca-McClory, PhD Student
      • Minjaal Raval, PhD Student
    • College of Engineering
      • Nowshin Tabassum, PhD Student, Personal Cybersecurity Lab
      • Elham Pourabbas Vafa, PhD Student, Personal Cybersecurity Lab
      • Solomon Dandekar, M.S. (2025 Graduate) Personal Cybersecurity Lab

About Technology Facilitated Abuse

  • Technology Facilitated Abuse is a form of controlling behavior. It happens when someone uses technology to control, stalk, or harass another person. It is frequent in instances of intimate partner violence, and prevalent in today’s society.

The UTA Tech Abuse Clinic

One way we are applying the findings of our research to support the community is through launching the UTA Tech-Abuse Clinic (TAC). Modeled on the work of the Clinic to End Tech Abuse at Cornell, the UTA TAC is a free consultation service that pairs trained MSW practicum students, supported by computer engineering students from the personal cyber security lab in the College of Engineering, with survivors experiencing technology abuse. We work with survivors referred to us from community-based violence service agencies across the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. We are utilizing the combined expertise and resources of the UTA School of Social Work in violence intervention and survivor support, the UTA College of Engineering in personal cybersecurity, and the UTA College of Liberal Arts in public health communication to provide technical support to survivors and advocates in our community.

Further, the clinic provides a training ground to educate MSW practicum students and emerging cyber security professionals in the dynamics of TFA.  Through the clinic, we are building a on-the-ground knowledge of current TFA tactics allowing us to identify emerging trends and associated intervention approaches from cybersecurity and public health perspectives. To learn more about the UTA TAC, contact Clinic Director Dr. Morgan PettyJohn at morgan.pettyjohn@uta.edu.

Resources for Providers