Just Science

In episode ten of our Drugs Season, Just Science visits Atlanta for the 45th Annual ASCLD symposium to talk with the Orange County, California Laboratory Director, and chair of the ASCLD Opioid Taskforce Committee, Bruce Houlihan. Listen along as John and Bruce tackle the nation's most complex drug war front on the topic of seized drugs in labs, and why post-mortem findings, research, and collaborations are hot topics around today's changing landscape for laboratory safety. This season is funded by the National Institute of Justice's Forensic Technology Center of Excellence.

In episode Nine of our Drugs Season, Just Science discusses the Opioid Epidemic with RTI International's Dr. Gary Zarkin and Dr. Jeri Ropero-Miller. Solving the United State's Opioid Epidemic that's riddled with unknowns and inconsistencies starts with a holistic understanding of the pervading issues. It's not just the prevention and treatment associated with novel psychoactive substances, but surveillance, drug chemistry identification, legislative and policy reform, and influential stakeholders acting in a concerted effort that will turn the tide of the nation's most devastating drug war front. Follow along with Just Science as we discuss the opioid epidemic, from its history and origins, to modern day strategies for prevention and treatment that capitalize on the use of existing data and policies to help home in on a national solution. This season is funded by the National Institute of Justice's Forensic Technology Center of Excellence.

In episode eight of our Drugs Season, Just Science discusses research in the area of e-cigarettes with Dr. Michelle Peace. Vaping, the act of inhaling vapor from e-liquid through a vaporizer, or also known as an e-cigarette, has gained popularity in recent years. The first half of the episode was recorded over a year ago. During the second half Dr. Peace will give us an update on where her research stands today. This season is funded by the National Institute of Justice's Forensic Technology Center of Excellence.

How do career trajectories differ for Women in Forensics? It’s not just about showcasing academic rigor, producing great research, and chasing grants. This Just So You Know, we speak with Dr. Campo of FIU and touch on creating women leaders in science, academia, STEM, and forensics, and finding a balance between children and careers, while not sacrificing living other parts of life. This episode of Just Science is funded by the National Institute of Justice’s Forensic Technology Center of Excellence [Award 2016-MU-BX-K110].

In episode seven of our Drugs Season, Just Science discusses with Dr. Nadja Schreiber Compo, an associate professor at Florida International University, her research on the effects of alcohol on witnesses' and victims' memory for events and faces. Victims and witnesses are discredited for being intoxicated, and may encounter obstacles as a result, but there is no science at this point that suggests that alcohol negatively affects witnesses memory for a face. Listen along as the discussion meanders along the research and perceptions surrounding the credibility of intoxicated victim and witness testimonies. This season is funded by the National Institute of Justice's Forensic Technology Center of Excellence.

In episode six of our Drugs Season, Just Science uses the 30-year career of Randy Hanzlick of the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office in Atlanta to explore the field of forensic pathology. Nerd out with Dr. John Morgan and Dr. Hanzlick as they discuss everything you'd want to know about medicolegal death investigation, from the history of forensic pathology, board certifications and standards, to the complexities between the Coroner and Medical Examiner systems and shortages. Also how does this shortage of pathologists link with the Opioid Crisis? Could having more pathologists have helped raise awareness earlier? This season is funded by the National Institute of Justice's Forensic Technology Center of Excellence.

In episode five of our Drugs Season, Just Science interviews Jennifer Knudsen, Colorado's Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor, and Glenn Davis, the Highway Safety Manager for the Colorado Department of Transportation. Listen along as Colorado's recreational marijuana legalization traffic experts discuss the law and operations of the existence of recreational marijuana and its impact on the transportation sector. They will discuss the post-legalization effects of marijuana on Colorado law enforcement, specifically focusing on driving and traffic topics. This season is funded by the National Institute of Justice's Forensic Technology Center of Excellence.

In episode four of our Drugs Season, Just Science interviews Dr. Carl Wolf, from the Medical College of Virginia Commonwealth University to discuss his NIJ funded research, titled "Liver Doesn't DIE, or at least its Enzymes, and Other Useful Information Discovered while Evaluating the Effect of Sample Preparation Techniques on Matrix Effects and Absolute Recovery of Opiates in Liver Tissue using UPLC-MS/MS." Stay tuned as we discuss the challenges associated with post-mortem work in forensic toxicology to dispel incorrect assumptions associated with how the human body functions in death. Is your liver dead if the cells are still living? Listen along as we explore this question, novel psychoactive substances and more on forensic toxicology and body fluids. This episode was recorded at the America Academy of Forensic Sciences 2018 annual meeting where Carl presented the research at the NIJ R&D Symposium. If you missed his talk please visit forensiccoe.org to watch the archival. This season is funded by the N

In episode three of the Drugs Season, Just Science interviews Alex Krotulski, a research scientist, and Amanda Mohr, a forensic scientist 2, at the Center for Forensic Science Research and education. Both discuss their NIJ funded research titled Evaluating Trends in Novel Psychoactive Substances Using a Sentinel Population of Electronic Dance Music Festival Attendees. Stay tuned as we answer some Electronic Dance Music festival culture questions such as, what do the bracelets that attendees wear really mean? How knowledgeable are attendees about the drugs they are taking? And many more… This episode was recorded at the America Academy of Forensic Sciences 2018 annual meeting where Alex presented the research at the NIJ R&D Symposium. If you missed his talk please visit forenscoe.org to watch the archival. This season is funded by the National Institute of Justice's Forensic Technology Center of Excellence.

In episode two of the Drugs Season, Just Science interviews Preeti Menon, the Senior Associate Director at the Justice Programs Office, a center in the School of Public Affairs at America University. One of Ms. Menon's many roles include being the Principal Investigator and project director for the National Drug Court Resource Center, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, and the Principal Investigator for the Juvenile Drug Treatment Court Training and Technical Assistance Initiative, funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Drug courts are one of the many tools the Department of Justice is using to combat overcrowded prisons and dangerous drug addictions. Listen along to find out how these courts are improving the justice system, and how American University is contributing in the fight against addiction. This season is funded by the National Institute of Justice's Forensic Technology Center of Excellence.

With this episode we kick off our Drugs season. Topics will range from legalization of marijuana in relation to police officers, the opioid epidemic, Electronic Dance Music Festivals, how witnesses' and victims' memory of events can be affected by alcohol, current vaping research, drug courts, and much more. Episode one features Nancy Crump, an Assistant Crime Laboratory Administrator at the Phoenix Police Department. In this episode Just Science discusses the creation of the Field Identification Drug Officer Program, also known as FIDO. Nancy and John discuss how the lack of laboratory resources creates an inefficient system for testing drugs found in the field and possible solutions for this issue. This season of Just Science is funded by the National Institute of Justice's Forensic Technology Center of Excellence. Opinions or points of views expressed in this podcast represent a consensus of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of its funding.

This episode was funded by RTI International's Center for Forensic Sciences.

In this special episode of the IPTES season recorded live in Crystal City, Just Science covers the panel titled, "Statistics and Testimony from the Practitioner and Juror Point of View." Moderators for the panel were Dr. John Morgan, Just Science host from RTI International, and Xiaoyu Alan Zheng, a mechanical engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Prior to this recording, panelists gave presentations during the symposium on various statistical topics, including: "Statistical Interpretation and Reporting of Fingerprint Evidence at the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laborator" presented by Mr. Henry Swofford. "LR Testimony Cross-Examined" presented by Dr. Hari Iyer, and Dr. Steven Lund from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Mr. Chris Fabricant. "Factors Which Influence Juror's Interpretation of the Value of Forensic Science Testimony" presented by Dr. Alicia Wilcox. Dr. Wilcox goes further into her research on a previous just science episode "Just A Juror's

In episode nine of the IPTES season, Just Science is covering the Statistical Approaches to Forensic Interpretation panel, recorded live at IPTES. Moderators for the panel was your host Dr. John Morgan, from RTI International and Dr. Jose Almirall, Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Florida International University. Panelist gave presentations during the symposium on various statistical topics, these presentations were: "Reality Check - What Is Expected from Expert Witnesses", by Dr. Steven Lund. "Challenges Faced by Experts When Communicating Forensic Evidence to Triers of Fact: A Statistician's View" by Dr. Hari Iyer. "The Use of Similarity Measures (Scores) to Quantify the Weight of Forensic Evidence" by Dr. Cedric Neumann, from South Dakota State University. "Statistical Analysis in Forensic Science Evidential Value of Multivariate Data" by Dr. Daniel Ramos, from the Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain. "The Anatomy of Forensic Identification Decisions: Rethinking Current Re

In episode eight of the IPTES season, Just Science interviews Cami Fuglsby, a PhD student from South Dakota State University to discuss Sufficiency and Complexity Factors in Handwriting Examination. Did you know that increasing the size of the document improves the sufficiency of the document? Or that the likelihood of chance matches decrease as complexity increases? Follow along as we discuss Flash ID, shape-codes, and flipping algorithms on their heads. This season is funded by the National Institute of Justice's Forensic Technology Center of Excellence.

In episode six of the IPTES season, Just Science interviews Robert Thompson, a Senior Forensic Science Research Manager at the National Institute for Standards and Technology. Mr. Thompson discusses his research on consecutively manufactured barrels and Objective Comparison of Toolmarks Produced from Consecutively Manufactured Cold Chisels. The profile's similarity and differences were compared using two mathematical methods, cross-correlation function, and the recently developed congruent matching profile segments method. This season is funded by the National Institute of Justice's Forensic Technology Center of Excellence.

In episode six of the IPTES season, Just Science interviews Chris Hamburg, from the Oregon State Police Forensic Services Division, and Jeff Jagmin from the WSP Crime Laboratory Division in Seattle. Our guests discuss the process a footwear examiner goes through in order to capture test impressions. Their interactive workshop “Intra- and Inter-variability of Footwear Test Impressions” had attendees go through this footwear examiner process. The attendees could then see for themselves what variations occur on the test impressions depending on the examiner’s physical variations, such as height and weight. This episode of Just Science is funded by the National Institute of Justice’s Forensic Technology Center of Excellence [Award 2016-MU-BX-K110].

In episode five of the IPTES season, Just Science interviews John Vanderkolk from the Indiana State Laboratory. In a previous episode, Mr. Vanderkolk used the term Nature's patterns, now he will discuss the philosophy behind the term and how he uses his Fracture Examination workshop to teach these ideas. This season is funded by the National Institute of Justice's Forensic Technology Center of Excellence.

In episode four of the IPTES season, Just Science interviews Andrew Kimble, a student from Albany State University. Mr. Kimble explains his research in how incorporating statistical models in forensic shoeprint analysis can assist in identification. This episode shows how a young forensic professional is finding his own path, along with aiding others in his community. This season is funded by the National Institute of Justice's Forensic Technology Center of Excellence.

In episode three of the IPTES season, Just Science interviews Dr. Alicia Wilcox from Husson University and Heidi Eldridge from RTI International. Our guests discuss how visual aid and other tactics have been proven to help jurors interpret subject matter expert testimony. Listen and find out what Jurors say is effective in communicating forensic evidence in court. This season is funded by the National Institute of Justice's Forensic Technology Center of Excellence.