Professor Christian received his Ph.D. in Public Affairs with specialization in Public Finance from Florida International University in December 2010.  He also holds a Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.) from Florida International University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with specialization in accounting from Concord University. His research primarily focuses on tax evasion, trade-based money laundering, terrorist financing, and artificial intelligence use in compliance enforcement efforts.  Professor Christian has research appearing in the Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting, and Financial Management, the eJournal of Tax Research, the Journal of Public Affairs Education, the Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance, and in an edited book on information technology in the public sector. He has been the principal investigator in a number of applied research projects for governmental entities in the areas of sales tax enforcement, phantomware and zapper utilization in tax evasion, and digital forensics utilization by government.  In Fall 2012, he joined the faculty at Georgia Southern University as an assistant professor in the Institute (now Department) of Public and Nonprofit Studies, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in public budgeting and finance, information technology, and public administration.

Dr. Christian is on the Board of Directors for a local nonprofit organization, is the Chairman of the Statesboro Works Commission, and is on the Advisory Board of G2Lytics, LLC, a firm based in Nashville, Tennessee specializing in AI-based compliance enforcement solutions for federal, state, and local governments.

Research and Teaching Interests:  Public Budgeting, Public Finance, Information Technology in the Public Sector, Public Policy, Public Administration, Tax Evasion, Trade-Based Money Laundering, Artificial Intelligence use in Compliance Enforcement Regimes.