Just Science

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 Ju...

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 Phoen...

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,...

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 vari...

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 Fla...

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 us...

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 attendee...

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 Exc...

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...

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 Nati...

In episode two of the IPTES season, Just Science interviews Dr. Ashraf Bastawros from the Iowa State University. Dr. Bastawros discusses how fracture mechanics principles can be used with statistical learning tools to give quantitative results. Explore the mind of an engineer and how leveraging other disciplines can aid forensic science. This season is funded by the National Institute of Justice’s...

In this season we will cover content given at the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence's Impression Pattern and Trace Evidence Symposium.  The symposium was held January 22nd -25th 2018 in Arlington, Virginia, it had over 200 onsite attendees and over 300 online attendees. To kick off the season Just Science interviews John Vanderkolk from the Indiana State Laboratory. Vanderkolk discusses...

The host of Just Science, Dr. John Morgan, gives a detailed explanation about the Forensic Technology Center of Excellence’s Leadership Series. He discusses the topics along with the instructors who cover the material as well as some of the challenges associated with leadership in the crime lab. Learn more at: https://forensiccoe.org/leadership-series/ This episode of Just Science is funded by the...

In this special release season of Just Science, we discuss leadership with prominent names in the forensic community. The last episode of this series features Jeremy Triplett, the Laboratory Supervisor for the Kentucky State Police Forensic Laboratories. Triplett discusses how a leader must not only have people skills, but they also must posses ability look beyond their own expertise when handling...

In this special release season of Just Science, we discuss leadership with prominent names in the forensic community. This episode features Martina Bison-Huckaby, the Director of the Center for Executive Education at West Virginia University’s College of Business and Economics. Just science examines how understanding and relating with people separates leadership from management. Also we discuss th...

In this special release season of Just Science, we discuss leadership with prominent names in the forensic community. This episode features Jody Wolf the assistant crime lab administrator at the Phoenix police department laboratory services bureau. Wolf tells us how forensic science found her at a pivotal time in her life, and how she found an amazing career at the Phoenix crime lab. With a backgr...

Servant Leadership In episode one of the Leadership Special Release season, Just Science interviews Ben Swanholm, the Forensic Science Section Supervisor at the Phoenix Police Department Laboratory Services Bureau. Swanholm discusses his personal leadership style, backed with resources that are helpful to not only forensic scientists, but anyone who is interested in pursuing a leadership role. Alo...

JUST SO YOU KNOW: RAPID DNA TECHNOLOGY In this “Just So You Know” episode of Just Science, we discuss this year’s Rapid DNA forum with Chris Asplen, the Executive Director of the National Criminal Justice Association. The 3-day forum, hosted by the Forensic Technology Center of Excellence, was held in Alexandria, VA in August of 2017. This forum provided more than 130 attendees from the forensic D...

In Episode 9, Season 2, Just Science interviews Ray Wickenheiser, director of the New York State Police lab system and current ASCLD president. Ray takes us down to Cajun Country to the case of deranged “Baton Rouge Serial Killer,” Derrick Todd Lee, who targeted young women in the Baton Rouge area of Louisiana during the early 2000s. Just Science and Ray jump into the details of the complex crime...

Two Murders, One Trace Fiber In episode eight, Season two, Just Science interviews Dr. Jan De Kinder, from the National institute of Forensic science and criminology in the Belgium Department of Justice. Dr. De Kinder explores how trace evidence was a critical piece of evidence in the murder of two young girls 20 years ago in Belgium. During the time of the murders Belgium was dealing with a large...

In Episode Seven, Season two, Just Science interviews Dr. John Kenney, who is also a member of the American Academy of Forensic Science, during the Cradle to Cane Conference held in Charleston South Carolina. Dr. Kenny discusses ways to identify human trafficking, not only in the field of dentistry, but also in other industries. This episode will not focus on one particular case but will describe...

In episode six, season two, Just Science interviews Kimberly Meza from Mesa police Department during the annual ASCLD symposium held in Dallas, Texas. Kimberly describes how a blood spatter analyst takes in a scene, especially one as gruesome as this case, where the victim was brutally stabbed in their apartment by an unknown suspect. The suspects DNA that was found at the scene initially was a no...

This week the forensic science community lost an influential and dedicated leader, Dr. Jay Siegel. "Just Science" is releasing a special "Just So You Know" episode interviewing Dr. Max Houck and John Collins, two of Dr. Siegel’s closest colleagues. In this short episode we remember a kind hearted, dedicated educator of forensic scientists, whose reach was felt internationally. The community has lo...

Atlanta Olympic Bombing Season two, episode five of Just Science interviews John Collins during the annual ASCLD symposium in Dallas, Texas. This episode takes us back to a time when the United States was hosting the summer Olympics, in Atlanta, in 1996.  The summer of 1996 was meant to be an important moment for the heart of Georgia on the world’s stage, but instead is remembered by a horrific ex...