Greetings ASCLD Colleagues and Friends,
I cannot believe how quickly July flew by! Just last weekend, my son’s baseball season ended. There were mixed emotions- I was relieved because I looked forward to getting our weekends back, but also sad because I love watching him play. Taking a moment to celebrate after the season on a team’s hard work and success is a great opportunity.
In our field, we have that opportunity to celebrate, too. In fact, we are not that far away from 2022’s National Forensic Science Week (September 18-24). This year marks the 10th annual celebration of forensic science and forensic scientists across the country. What are you doing to support and honor the work of folks in forensic science that you lead?
Speaking of leadership, ASCLD’s Leadership Academy is gearing up for the 2022 Fall Academy. More information will be coming soon, but right now it appears the session will start at the end of August and end with a capstone in early December. I wanted to get this on your radar because registration information will be coming up soon!
I have some exciting news to share- the newly established 2021 NIJ National Center on Forensics is working with Forensic Science Review to offer complimentary subscriptions to members of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLD). The mission of the Center is to:
∙ Develop and implement scientific and technical learning opportunities that focus on underserved rural areas for the medico-legal community;
∙ Provide forensic science and legal training to law enforcement, district judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors, and other appropriate criminal justice agencies;
∙ Develop, consolidate, and provide access to resources, such as education, training, and best practices in the forensic science community
Please fill out the attached flyer and follow the submission directions to receive your complimentary copy.
Please also check out the July OSAC in Brief. There is a lot of information in this attachment, including the two draft technical guidance documents from the Facial Identification Subcommittee that are open for comment and that 2022 OSAC Registration Implementation Survey. Both have August deadlines, so get your input in today!
I want to end this week’s message with a note about our Communication Committee. As many of you know, our Comms Committee is chaired by Director Sheri Lemons and Director Lisa Burdett, two delightful and thoughtful leaders who have been working hard with the committee and will be proposing some new ideas and an important change. As you all know, the CLM is compiled, edited, and published by volunteers who give up their free time every weekend to bring content to our membership. This is quite a sacrifice, therefore, the ASCLD BOD will be voting soon on moving publication of the CLM from every week to every other week. We will still be bringing our membership plenty of information- I always have plenty to say! Anything that requires timely communication will still be emailed to our membership.
I just realized that I have no idea what I will do with my free weekend- I like keeping busy so I may just tend to my very small, very neglected garden.
I hope you all have a great week!
Be well,
Jen
Jennifer D. Naugle
ASCLD President
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ASCLD monthly board meeting
The next Board of Directors meeting date will be on Friday, August 19th at 1pm CST.
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Weekly News and Resources |
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The Research Forensic Library is officially launched and provides access to thousands of articles and reports in the scientific literature, a critical step in the forward momentum required of forensic science and its varied applications.
The Library is part of a cooperative agreement with the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). You can find the full release on our website to republish and share:
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with information on Lightning Talks, the FRC Collaboration Hub, the
Laboratories and Educators Alliance Program (LEAP), new LEAP Research
Partners, recent submissions to the Evaluation and Validation Repository,
and FRC Award Winners!
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ASCLD FRC Validation and Evaluation Repository – Confirmation and Quantitation of Antiepileptic and Acidic Drugs by LC/MS/MS
The ASCLD Forensic Research Committee (FRC) is proud to announce a new submission to the Validation and Evaluation Repository. As you may already know, the purpose of this FRC initiative is to create a central repository of forensic validations and evaluations. ASCLD hopes that this repository will foster information sharing and promote collaboration with the forensic science community.
The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office / Miami Valley Regional Crime Laboratory recently submitted a summary validation report highlighting their internal validation for a new protein crash extraction and LC/MS/MS method for confirming and quantitating 14 antiepileptic/acidic drugs in blood, serum, urine and tissue homogenate. The method was validated using 7 blood calibrators and low, medium, and high controls in blood, serum, urine and tissue homogenate. The validation parameters are all included in the validation summary submitted.
Please consider submitting information about your lab’s validations or evaluations to the repository. Information could include basic information such as validation/evaluation title, lab name, and point of contact information (which enables other forensic scientists to contact you with questions) or additional information such as a short validation or evaluation summary or even a full validation or evaluation report. By sharing this information, you are supporting other laboratories that wish to expand their forensic capabilities!
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The Project FORESIGHT benchmark report for FY2021 is now available HERE
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The ASCLD Forensic Research Committee (FRC) is pleased to announce a new submission within the Collaboration Hub. As you may know, the purpose of the Collaboration Hub is to create a directory to connect researchers with ongoing projects to practitioners who are willing to participate in the studies or support the research. It is ASCLD’s hope that this program will further communication and cooperation between forensic researchers and practitioners.
Recently, a new project was added to the Collaboration Hub that aims to explore factors that may play a role in the decision-making of triaging items collected from crime scenes. The Principal Investigator for this study is Dr. Ifat Levy from Yale University with collaborators from the University of College London. The researchers are seeking volunteers to participate in an online study where participants will be asked to evaluate a forensic casework brief and photographs of items collected from a crime scene. Under a hypothetical scenario in which the participant is the expert assigned to this case, the participant will make a series of decisions about the case. The study will take approximately 30-40 minutes to complete.
If you are interested in supporting this project and contributing to forensic science research, please check out the ASCLD FRC Collaboration Hub.
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Videos from the Annual Symposium in Reno are now available in the on the ASCLD website |
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Forensic science service providers are invited to participate in OSAC’s 2022 Registry Implementation Survey.
The Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC) for Forensic Science wants to better understand how the standards on the OSAC Registry are being used, the challenges around standards implementation, and what support is needed to improve it. Your input will help to assess the current state of implementation of 95 standards that have been posted on the OSAC Registry through June 2022. This survey is now open and will close August 12, 2022. Take survey HERE
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We cordially invite forensic DNA experts to attend the 29th International Congress of the International Society for Forensic Genetics in Washington DC, August 29th through September 2nd. The ISFG Congress is the largest professional society dedicated to advancement of
research and information for forensic DNA analysts, researchers, and students. With over 400 scientific posters, breakfast seminars, workshops, and other special events - this meeting will draw upon scientists from all of the world. The biennial ISFG Congress gathers these professionals who present the most current information, research, and updates in the field of forensic genetics.
#isfg2022 #forensics #forensicscience #ISFG
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Please send all CLM submissions to our new electronic form!
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Please continue to tag your photos on social media with the hashtag #ASCLDfun |
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Opt Out.
ASCLD sells your email information to vendors for marketing and promotional material purposes. You may ‘opt-out’ of receiving vendor information not directly related to ASCLD by emailing executivedirector@ascld.org. If you do not opt out then your acceptance of this Agreement will constitute your affirmative consent to receiving marketing and promotional material from ASCLD.
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Crime Lab Minute Sponsors
For More Information, Click the LOGO below:
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There are many standards open for comment on the ASB website. Be sure to check them out and provide your valuable input!
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Safety Topics for your Lab |
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Health and Safety in the Laboratory series by Jane Northup PhD, RI State Crime Laboratory
Click on links below for articles
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ANAB Trainings
With the ability to reach wider audiences, we are expanding offerings of current courses in Spanish.
The following courses will be available live online in Spanish:
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Forensic Technical Assessor
- Forensic ISO/IEC 17025 Internal Auditor
- Risk-based Thinking for Forensic Service Providers
We are also excited to introduce our courses:
Uncertainty, Sampling and Data Analysis: Understanding Statistical Calculations. This course provides an introduction to statistical concepts and techniques used for the collection, organization, analysis, and presentation of various types of data. The course touches on both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics, including how to compute measures of central tendency and dispersion, and how to assess the relationship between two variables. More..
Verification and Validation for Laboratories and Inspection Bodies. This course provides an introduction to the validation and verification of analytical methods and the common elements of a validation or verification plan. In addition, a general approach to performing a validation or verification will be reviewed along with ISO/IEC 17025 requirements for validation and verification of methods. More…
Webinars:
We continue our monthly Webinars and stay tuned for information about upcoming Feature Sessions.
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Donations to ASCLD can now be made online! This is a great way to honor the memory of a forensic colleague, to commemorate a life event for that person who has everything, or to otherwise assist in supporting the tireless efforts of the ASCLD organization in the pursuit of excellence in forensic science management. The donation page can be accessed by clicking HERE or by visiting the ASCLD website and clicking on "Donate to ASCLD" under the "Member Site" tab (this donation page is accessible even to non-members). Please consider donating and do share this information with anyone you think might be interested.
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The American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors
65 Glen Road, Suite 123
Garner, NC 27529
Phone: 919.773.2044
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