At Mason-led conference, forensic science experts offer training and insight for rural practitioners

Sarah Holland — Mon, 11 Sep 2023 14:13:26 +0000

At Mason-led conference, forensic science experts offer training and insight for rural practitioners Sarah Holland Mon, 09/11/2023 - 10:13

Walking into a lecture hall to a PowerPoint about a homicide is startling for those unacquainted with the intricacies of forensic sciences. For an audience of medical examiners, law enforcement, and prosecutors at the 2023 National Center on Forensics Conference, it’s just another day on the job.

Jay King of Chesapeake Search Dogs, with Skyler the spaniel, was among the presenters at the 2023 National Center on Forensics conference on Mason's SciTech Campus.
Photo by Sarah Holland/��ӽ紫ý

The conference was the culminating event of the National Institute of Justice’s $2 million grant to ��ӽ紫ý and its partners to create the National Center on Forensics. With sessions on topics like “Challenges in Homicide Cases Involving Native Americans and Rural Areas,” and discussions of new methodologies like genetic genealogy and the role of canines in the investigative process, the conference aimed to help a wide community of medical and legal practitioners in rural areas learn how to solve these efficiently and effectively utilizing current forensic analysis techniques.

“Smaller agencies—like those in rural areas—don't have the resources to get the same level of training on emerging techniques and technologies as those agencies in urban areas like Fairfax County,” said Joseph DiZinno, associate professor of forensic science at Mason and PI on the grant. “We hope to remedy that through events like this conference.”

“Introducing rural departments to new technologies and methodologies and demonstrating their implementation has already had a huge impact,” said Kayla Wallace, coroner liaison for the Montana Forensic Science Division, one partner on the grant. “Many of our attendees have not had access to these tools before, and we hope to see them continue to implement in the future.”

Attendees at the conference at the SciTech Campus heard from experts in forensic pathology, several areas of forensic science, and criminal law like Cece Moore, leading genetic genealogist; Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who served as special prosecutor for the Derek Chauvin case; and Matthew Gamette, laboratory system director for the Idaho State Police Forensic Services, who worked on the recent Idaho State murders case.

To ensure that as many practitioners as possible have access to this education and training, conference panels were recorded and will be available online.

From left: Joseph DiZinno, Dan Milner, Kayla Wallace, and Mike Kuykendall.
Photo by Evan Cantwell/��ӽ紫ý

“Our rural attendees don’t have many opportunities to talk to other practitioners about the complex issues and challenges they face," said Dan Milner, consultant pathologist for the American Society of Clinical Pathologists—one of the grant partners—and executive director of the Access to Oncology Medicines Coalition. “There’s a lot of discussion after the sessions and lots of questions being asked, both with panelists and amongst the attendees. They're really taking advantage of being in the same room as their colleagues.”

Mike Kuykendall, director of the Center for Excellence in Governance at the National Association of Attorneys General, the third partner on the grant, noted the importance of networking the conference provided. “The contacts they’ve made here can impact the rest of their careers.”

In addition to engaging medico-legal practitioners, the conference provided experiential learning opportunities for forensic science students at Mason through the planning and running of the conference. Students had the opportunity to build their resumes, hear directly from renowned experts, and meet active practitioners in all areas of forensic science.

“To be around experts and active practitioners so early in my career was surreal,” said Mariana Cruz, BS Forensic Science ’23, who is currently working on her master’s in forensic science. “I was making incredible connections, as well as really seeing how every part of the process—from medical examiners up through the court systems—must work together to solve these cases.”

Lorena Garcia, a junior in Mason’s forensic science program who grew up near a rural area in North Carolina, has firsthand experience seeing the discrepancies in resources between urban and rural offices. “This conference was so important because rural sheriffs have little to no funding and so many barriers,” she said. Garcia has made friends within the sheriff’s office of her hometown of Smithfield, and when she returned home after the conference, she said, “One of the officers told me I was learning more than some of the people in the office had experienced in their lifetime. She told me, ‘You’re going to change the world.’”

Learn More About Forensic Science at Mason

Topics

College of Science

National Center for Forensics

SciTech Campus

Campus News

Forensic Science Program

Law Enforcement

Mason expands forensic science training in rural areas with $2 million grant

Colleen Rich — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 18:06:25 +0000

Mason expands forensic science training in rural areas with $2 million grant Colleen Rich Fri, 12/04/2020 - 13:06

Anthony Falsetti and Mary Ellen O'Toole of Mason's growing Forensic Science Program at the site of the new Forensic Science Research and Training Laboratory. Photo by Ian Shiff/Creative Services.

The Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice (NIJ) has awarded a $2 million grant to ��ӽ紫ý to further the advancement of forensic science.

The funding from the NIJ will create a National Center on Forensics at Mason to provide medical and legal learning opportunities for medical students training as deputy medical examiners/ coroners in rural areas while also offering forensic science and legal training to district attorneys, judges and law enforcement officials. The award, which was announced by the DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs, is expected to also develop other opportunities as appropriate among designated partners that will benefit current and future practitioners in the field.

Mary Ellen O’Toole, the former FBI profiler who is the director of the Forensic Science Program within Mason’s College of Science, said the grant will allow her program to collaborate with partners to ensure that all victims and their families receive justice.

“Too often victims and their families and the professionals investigating the crimes who reside in rural areas don’t have access to the same resources as those from urban, metropolitan areas,” O’Toole said. “This gap can be significant and stand between case resolution and years of never knowing what happened. This grant will allow us and our partners to work to increase the number of much-needed forensic experts like medical examiners and coroners and to provide state-of-the-art training for them and other professionals.”

Joseph DiZinno, an associate professor and a former FBI forensics expert, will serve as the project’s principal investigator, while Anthony Falsetti, an associate professor and forensic anthropologist, will serve as the co-PI.

Mason will partner with the National Institute of Justice, the American Society for Clinical Pathology, the National Association of Attorneys General, the University of Washington Schools of Medicine and Law, and the Montana Forensic Science Division to serve as a national resource to raise awareness about and address the shortage of medical examiners and coroners, particularly in rural areas, DiZinno said.

“By increasing the number of forensic pathologists and by training the medical examiner, coroner and legal communities, the National Center on Forensics will directly impact the criminal justice system’s ability to determine if crimes have been committed and ensure that the guilty are held accountable and the innocent are not unfairly charged or convicted,” DiZinno said.

The Office of Justice Programs, directed by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Katharine T. Sullivan, provides federal leadership, grants, training and technical assistance, and other resources to improve the nation’s capacity to prevent and reduce crime, assist victims and enhance the rule of law by strengthening the criminal and juvenile justice systems.

“In spite of geography, every case and every victim should be afforded the same commitment and range of resources for a thorough and comprehensive investigation and resolution within our criminal justice system,” O’Toole said. “This unique grant will allow us to bring these resources to the communities and people who need it the most.”

The grant is part of the continued expansion of the Mason program, which recently unveiled its new Forensic Science Research and Training Laboratory that is slated to open next semester on the Science and Technology Campus in Manassas. The five-acre facility will be just the eighth in the world capable of transformative outdoor research in forensic science using human remains.

Topics

Forensic Science Program

Department of Justice

National Center for Forensics

World-class research

Justice

Research

National Center for Forensics

At Mason-led conference, forensic science experts offer training and insight for rural practitioners

Learn More About Forensic Science at Mason

Related Stories

Topics

Mason expands forensic science training in rural areas with $2 million grant