UW-Eau Claire criminal justice professor, Dr. Justin Patchin is moving forward with teen cyberbullying research thanks to a $200,000 grant.

The grant was given to Patchin through a digital trust fund formed by Facebook and will allow him to obtain national data from teens ages 12-17 on cyberbullying. Specifically, Patchin is looking at evaluating teens tendencies to cyberbully others in a “romantic relationship environment” according to WEAU.

“I think research in this area is very important especially since we’re lacking data on this type of issue,” one member said.

Patchin told WEAU that the data will be able to tell researchers whether or not technology is negatively impacting the way middle and high school students interact digitally in romantic relationships, honing in on issues like stalking and harassment.

The goal of the data, Patchin said, is to ultimately use the findings to take preventive measures toward future acts of cyberbullying as well as better understanding the habits specifically in teens to respond appropriately to the behavior in the future.

All members of The Spectator Editorial Board agreed this grant is money well spent.

“I do think that putting money towards preventing something like this is possible and should happen in the future when we know more about it,” another member said.

Patchin has formed a group of undergraduate students to help conduct the survey which will be administered in 2016 and is said to hopefully be finished by the next coming summer.