Orlandrew Danzell, Associate Professor, IA

Dr. Danzell is the Interim Associate Dean of The Graduate School, Program Director of the Cyber Intelligence Graduate Certificate Program, and an Associate Professor in the Intelligence Analysis (IA) program at James Madison University. He previously served as Program Director of the Anti-Money Laundering Graduate Certificate Program at Gannon University and as Chair of the Department of Intelligence Studies at Mercyhurst University.

Dr. Danzell earned his Ph.D. in Security Studies from Kansas State University in May 2011, an M.A. in Political Science from Kansas State University in 2007, and B.A. degrees in History and Political Science from Cameron University in 2003 (summa cum laude). His research and teaching focus on cyber-financial crime, cybersecurity vulnerabilities in African countries, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CTF), blockchain and cryptocurrency, international and domestic terrorism, and intelligence theory and application. He employs both quantitative and qualitative methods to develop and test new theoretical insights across these areas.

Xuebin Wei, Ph.D., Associate Professor

Dr. Xuebin Wei is an Associate Professor in the Intelligence Analysis program at James Madison University and an AWS Academy Certified Educator. His research focuses on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud-based analytics for the analysis of large-scale spatial, temporal, and social data. He is a member of the Google AI for Education Accelerator and the author of the 2024 textbook Social Data Analytics in the Cloud with AI (CRC Press). Dr. Wei received his Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Georgia in 2015 and was selected as an AWS Educate Cloud Ambassador in 2019.

Breyette Lorntz, Ph.D., Adjunct Faculty

Dr. Breyette Lorntz is an original faculty member of the Cyber Intelligence Graduate Certificate at James Madison University. She designed IA 610: Ethical, Legal, and Policy Issues in Cybersecurity for the program’s initial offering and continues to teach the course. Dr. Lorntz has taught in higher education for over 25 years, including appointments at the University of Virginia and James Madison University, with a longstanding emphasis on ethics-focused and interdisciplinary instruction. Her teaching approach emphasizes interactive learning and engagement with emerging and cutting-edge issues in cybersecurity.

Melanie Richy, Ph.D., Adjunct Faculty 

Dr. Melanie Richey is the CEO of Merigold Analytics, an advanced and emerging technology implementation firm serving the Intelligence Community (IC) and Department of Defense (DOD). Dr. Richey has supported the IC for 15 years in various technical roles and has deep experience designing and implementing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) programs for national intelligence. She has formal training as an Analytic Methodologist and a passion for technical methods, among them graph analytics and graph data architecture, and agent-based modeling and agentic systems. Melanie is also an avid gamer, international traveler, adjunct professor, and chef who enjoys the wonders of worldbuilding, immersive storytelling, technical solutioning, and foreign flavors.   

Livia Griffith, Adjunct Faculty 

Livia Griffith is the IT Directory for the College of Integrated Science and Engineering (CISE) at James Madison University. Livia has an MS in Information Security and has worked in technology for over 30 years. Livia began her career as a software engineer working in industry and later advanced to systems and network administration in higher education. She has witnessed the computing environment transform from desktops running DOS 3.0 to an international network of appliances running multiple operating system. With the transition has come the increase in security vulnerabilities. Livia is responsible for infrastructure computing for CISE and works with Windows, Linux, Hyper-V, vSphere and other cloud computing environments.