The Penn State Forensic Science program recently signed a corporate sponsorship agreement with Life Technologies to work on forensic DNA research projects for the company. Life Technologies Corporation is a global biotechnology company dedicated to improving the human condition. In exchange for the research, Life Technologies provided the program with instrumentation, software and reagents valued at $350,000 that will be used in the research and as educational tools for students. (more)
Rockne P. Harmon, former senior deputy district attorney for Alameda County in California, will present a lecture hosted by the Penn State Forensic Science program of the Eberly College of Science. The lecture, titled "Solving Cold Cases through Familial DNA Searching: Issues and Answers," will begin at 12:20 p.m. on Thursday, 12 April 2012 in the 129 Waring Building at the Penn State University Park campus. The free public lecture is sponsored by the Penn State Eberly College of Science. (more)
A free public lectured titled "Ten years after the sequencing of the first human genome: where are we and where are we going?" will be given at 12:20 p.m. on Jan. 23 in Room 101 Osmond Laboratory on the University Park campus. The lecture will be given by Brendan Keating, co-director of the Joint Genome Center, with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Keating will discuss the impact of his work with next-generation DNA sequencing and other molecular approaches on personalized medicine, identification of new drugs and the forensic science arena. (more)
A free lecture, "The Evolution of Latent Print Development Techniques," will be held on Oct. 10, by Robert Ramotowski, the chief research scientist with the United States Secret Service Forensic Services Division laboratory. This event is the third in a series of four presentations on forensic science and its use as a law-enforcement tool in Penn State's 2011 Forensic Science Lecture Series. All lectures are free and will be held on Mondays from 12:20 to 1:10 p.m., in 111 Wartik Laboratory on the Penn State University Park campus. (more)
The public is invited to a free lecture, "Investigating Clandestine Drug Laboratories," on Sept. 12, by James DeFrancesco, a senior forensic chemist with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. This event is the first of a series of four presentations on forensic science and its use as a law-enforcement tool in Penn State's 2011 Forensic Science Lecture Series. All lectures will be held on Mondays from 12:20 to 1:10 p.m. in 111 Wartik Laboratory on the Penn State University Park campus. (more)
A series of presentations on forensic evidence in the courtroom, drug-lab raids, cutting-edge criminal-investigation techniques, and the changing field of forensic science is part of Penn State's 2011 Forensic Science Lecture Series. All lectures are free and will be held on Mondays from 12:20 to 1:10 p.m. in 111 Wartik Laboratory on the Penn State University Park campus. (more)
Forensics experts can't always retrieve fingerprints from objects, but a new coating process developed by Penn State professors may change that. The process reveals hard-to-develop fingerprints on nonporous surfaces without altering the chemistry of the print. A coating application suggested by Robert Shaler, founding director of the Penn State forensic science program, and Ahklesh Lakhtakia, Charles Godfrey Binder professor in engineering science and mechanics, uses the physical properties of the fingerprint, not the chemistry of the substances left behind. (more)
The Penn State Forensic Science Program is consistently ranked as one of the top 10 in the United States by independent websites that review academic programs and provide information to prospective students and their parents. Of the more than 150 undergraduate forensic-science programs throughout the United States, Penn State's is one of only 15 that have been accredited by the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, a multi-disciplinary professional organization that includes members and representatives from all 50 states, Canada, and 60 additional countries. (more)
Students, faculty, staff, alumni and the public are invited to a free lecture, "Thrilling Science: How to Spin Facts into Entertaining Fiction," by Tess Gerritsen, an international bestselling author. Gerritsen will speak from 12:20 to 1:10 p.m. on Sept. 27, in 111 Wartik Laboratory on Penn State's University Park campus. Later in the day, Gerritsen will autograph copies of books and greet readers and fans in the HUB-Robeson Center from 4 to 5 p.m. (more)
Donna Fontana, a forensic anthropologist for the New Jersey State Police, will deliver a free public lecture titled "Forensic Anthropology in the Real World" from 12:20 p.m. to 1:10 p.m. on Sept. 20, in room 111 of the Wartik Laboratory on Penn State's University Park campus. The event is the third in the Forensic Science Lecture Series, which features presentations on forensic science, criminal justice and crime fiction. The 2010 Forensic Science Lecture Series will feature four leaders from within the forensic-science field. (more)
