When: February 23rd, 2022 from 1pm - 2pm ET

Forensic Science has exploded in popularity over the last two decades with no signs of a slowdown in the foreseeable future. Colleges and universities across the United States have been responsive to increased student interest and heightened job growth in this discipline by creation of forensic sciences programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Many of these programs have been designed with the intent of placement of graduates into accredited laboratories or agencies. Others were developed to meet market demand. Regardless of intent, the vast majority provide training and coursework focused broadly on criminalistics and specifically on either crime scene investigation or forensic biology and chemistry.

At present, no undergraduate or graduate programs exist in Maryland or the mid-Atlantic region that focuses primarily on the comparative sciences. To overcome this perceived deficiency, Loyola University Maryland has developed a Masters of Science degree in Forensic Pattern Analysis.

During the course of curriculum design, numerous forensic science practitioners at state, local and federal agencies were consulted on the needs for current and future scientists engaged in latent prints casework. This talk will discuss the feedback received and attempt to place the identified needs and recommendations into the context of a graduate curriculum focused on forensic pattern evidence analyses.

Detailed Learning Objectives:

• Understand the current needs for comparative science disciplines within public forensic science laboratories.

• Understand the current deficiencies in undergraduate and graduate programs regarding training in the comparative sciences.

• Become familiar with recommendations for training at the undergraduate and graduate level for the next generation of pattern evidence analysts.

Presenter: David Rivers, PhD - Professor of Biology at Loyola University Maryland.

Presenter: Jonathan Fried, MFS - Director of Program Operations for the MS in Forensic Pattern Analysis Program at Loyola University Maryland

Click the Enroll button below to register for this course!