Dear ASCLD Colleagues,
Temperatures are warming up a bit here in Boston. This week, we celebrate St. Paddy’s Day, and next week, Boston sports fans can return to Fenway Park and TD Garden to express our opinions for the first time in over a year! Great news – the Sox will be home at Fenway during our ASCLD Symposium in August!
Early bird registration for the ASCLD Symposium to be held here in Boston is open on the symposium website (www.ascldsymposium.com). President-Elect Laura Sudkamp and the Symposium Planning Committee are monitoring the latest news and trends with respect to COVID-19 and events.
The ASCLD Forensic Research Committee is proud to announce the next episode of a virtual “Lightning Talks” series to highlight new and emerging research in all areas of forensic science. Each episode will feature three short talks given by practitioners, researchers, and/or students. The sixth episode will be held on Thursday April 1st at 1:00 EST and will focus on Novel Analysis of Latent Fingerprints. It will feature talks by Dr. Melanie Bailey from the University of Surrey on mass spectrometric analysis of fingerprints, Dr. Josep De Alcaraz-Fossoul from the University of New Haven on optical imaging for fingerprint aging, and Dr. Young-Jin Lee from Iowa State University on the usefulness of triacylglycerols in fingerprints for forensic evidence. The live event is limited to 100 people. To register, visit https://www.ascld.org/lightning-talks-registration/.
Noblis, Inc. and Bode Technology are proud to announce the commencement of the
DNAmix2021 inter-laboratory study, sponsored by a grant from NIJ. DNAmix2021 is a
large-scale independent study being conducted to evaluate the extent of consistency and variation among forensic laboratories in interpretations and statistical analyses of DNA mixtures, and to assess the effects of various potential sources of variability. The study will evaluate the current state of the practice in operational interpretation of DNA
mixtures, and will not be restricted to specific products or statistical approaches. It will be aimed at addressing issues raised by, and criticisms of, the NIST MIX05 and MIX13
studies, as well as the 2016 PCAST report. The results will be of value in Daubert/Frye
challenges, and to laboratory managers in assessing policies, training, or quality
Have a terrific week!
Be well,
Erin
Erin P. Forry
ASCLD President
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ASCLD monthly board meeting, 3rd Friday of every month
Next meeting: March 19th, 2021 at 1:00pm EST
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Weekly News and Resources |
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ASCLD has a few award opportunities with deadlines listed below. If you have any questions, please contact office@ascld.org and your questions will be forwarded to Nominations & Awards committee chair, Director Scott O’Neill.
deadline April 30th
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Also, please continue to submit your photos to social media with the hashtag #ASCLDfun
Here are some photos of forensic science in action!
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Please enjoy this Wisconsin DFS video on Forensic Imaging. It is the second in their series "Day in the Life of" videos used to try and "demystify" various jobs in the Wisconsin State Crime Labs. If you have something similar, feel free to submit! |
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Is your laboratory doing something exciting like building a new lab, incorporating new standards or tackling and overcoming operational challenges during COVID? Are you interested in submitting an article for publication in the CLM? Please submit articles electronically to https://www.ascld.org/clm-submission/
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Community Research, Newsletters, and Surveys |
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DNAMix 2021 Participation Needed!
The next DNA mixture study is being conducted by Noblis and Bode under NIJ Grant #2020-R2-CX-0049.
The results, which will be published in a peer-reviewed journal, are intended to be used to assess the foundational validity of the analysis and interpretation of DNA mixtures, and to demonstrate the effectiveness of different approaches to mixture interpretation and statistical analysis. The study will serve the DNA community by providing data in response to issues raised in the NIST MIX13 study and the PCAST report. The results will be of value in Daubert/Frye challenges, and to laboratory managers in assessing policies, training, or quality assurance procedures. See attached for more details.
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ASB updates from ANSI Standards Action
To view a summary of items of interest to ASB members in ANSI Standards Action, visit the ANSI Standards Action Weekly Report folder on the ASB Workspace page. Please contact asb@aafs.org if you have difficulties logging on to the Workspace site.
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The Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC) for Forensic Science monthly Standards Bulletin is now available. Read about the latest DNA standard to be added to the OSAC Registry and the nine other standards currently open for Registry comment. Also learn about the recently published toxicology and footwear and tire standards, the eight standards open for comment at standards developing organizations, and the new documents being initiated.
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August 22-26, 2021 | Together Toward Tomorrow | Boston, MA
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Register now, to obtain early bird pricing! (Payment is not required at the time of registration)
Are you interested in presenting at ASCLD 2021? Click HERE to submit an abstract.
Continue to watch the 2021 ASCLD Symposium website here. for important updates. If you have any questions, please contact our Symposium Chair, Laura Sudkamp, laura.sudkamp@ky.gov.
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ANAB - Upcoming training events
The pandemic changed how we do business and we quickly learned that online live training is both possible and, with the right tools and approach, highly effective. Bringing participants from around the world with different backgrounds and experiences into a single session enriched the experience for everyone involved. Although we hope to return to in-person training in the second half of 2021, we are committed to continuing to provide online live options for all our training moving forward. With the ability to reach wider audiences, we are expanding offerings of current courses in Spanish.
Starting in Spring 2021, the following courses will be available live online in Spanish:
- Forensic Technical Assessor
- Forensic ISO/IEC 17025 Internal Auditor
- Risk-based Thinking for Forensic Service Providers
We are also excited to introduce our new courses:oratories and Inspection:
Basic Statistics for Laboratories and Inspection Bodies. This course will introduce basic statistical techniques for collecting, organizing, analyzing, interpreting, and presenting data. Participants will strengthen their knowledge base of statistical techniques and their application to ISO/IEC 17020 and ISO/IEC 17025, and build confidence in the validity and reliability of their results. 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:
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Crime Lab Minute Sponsors
For More Information, Click the LOGO below:
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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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