Sharing Our Purpose

Advanced Courtroom Testimony for the Drug Chemist

Instructor: Tim McKibben

When: May 7-8, 2018 (8:00am—5:00pm each day)

Where: Dayton, Ohio

Training Location & Lodging: Crown Plaza Dayton ($101/night + tax; be sure to mention MAFS when registering for your room)

Cost: $300 $200 MAFS Member / $350 Non-MAFS Member

Workshop Coordinator: Jennifer Watson (watsonj@mcohio.org)

Cancellation Date:  None.  The workshop will be held as planned!

This two-day workshop is aimed at educating drug chemists beyond the basics of testimony related to drug analysis. Topics covered may include but are not limited to: handling opposing experts in general, reviewing opposing expert’s reports and what to focus on, Daubert (or Frye) hearings (how to get started, how to educate the attorney, etc), how to explain chemistry/chemical structures to a jury (related to analog and pharmacophore cases; what to do, what not to do), common opposing expert tactics and how to conquer them, how to aid in the prosecution’s/defense’s understanding of analog/pharmacophore cases, spectral interpretation as it relates to testimony, how to handle when an opposing expert “muddies” the water when testifying about chemistry related topics, case law that supports Dauberts (or Frye)/opposing reports etc, and how to introduce new technologies in court that have not previously been used in the area/district. The training will also include practical exercises.

This workshop is open to drug chemists working in local, state and federal laboratories.

 Registration link:

http://www.cvent.com/d/9tq49h

Probabilistic Genotyping: Theory and Implementation

Instructors:  Dr. Michael Coble (NIST), Annette J. Ortiz (Denver Police Department Crime Laboratory), Kristen Schelling (Michigan State Police), and Brandon Good (Michigan State Police)

When: April 23 – 25, 2018 (8:00a – 5:00p each day)

Where: Brookfield, Wisconsin (Suburb of Milwaukee)

Training Location & Lodging: Sheraton Milwaukee Brookfield Hotel, 375 S. Moorland Rd, Brookfield, WI  53005($104/night + tax; be sure to mention MAFS when reserving your room)

Cost: $300 $200 MAFS Member / $350 Non-MAFS Member

Workshop Coordinator: Sharon Polakowski (polakowskim@doj.state.wi.us)

Cancellation Date*: March 23, 2018 (20 min / 35 max)

The first two days of the workshop will be presented by Dr. Michael Coble from NIST and cover the basics of probabilistic genotyping, including likelihood ratios.  The remaining one day will be presentations by representatives from agencies who have implemented PG.  They will discuss validation, training of analysts, prosecutors, and defense attorneys, and further ‘nuts and bolts’ of implementation, including some data.

Registration link:

*The workshop will be cancelled if its minimum number of registrants is not met by the cancellation date.  Registration will remain open after the cancellation date if the minimum is met.

St. Louis University School of Medicine is offering a week-long Medicolegal Death Investigators Training Program in 2018.  For more details, please visit this link.

Dates Updated!:

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) will be offering an advanced fire debris training course for federal, state and local government laboratory analysts. Advanced Fire Debris Analysis for the Forensic Chemist is a course designed for analysts with more than three years of experience in conducting fire debris casework. This course will expand upon the topics covered in the ATF’s Introductory Fire Debris Analysis for the Forensic Chemist course, providing additional tools and considerations for fire debris analysis, as well as introducing concepts in fire investigations. The Introductory class is not a prerequisite for the Advanced class.

This tuition-free course will be offered at the ATF Forensic Science Laboratory – Washington in Beltsville, Maryland. Although this class is tuition-free, travel costs and per diem expenses are the responsibility of the student or student’s agency.

Course Offerings

August 8-10, 2017: Advanced Fire Debris Analysis for the Forensic Chemist

July23-26, 2018: Introductory Fire Debris Analysis for the Forensic Chemist

Summer, 2019: Advanced Fire Debris Analysis for the Forensic Chemist

Please contact Raymond Kuk at 202-648-6140 or Raymond.Kuk@atf.gov with any questions or to obtain an application for the upcoming Advanced Fire Debris Analysis for the Forensic Chemist course.

Links:   Announcement Flyer                    Application Form

The American Board of Criminalistics is looking for DNA screeners, technicians and examiners. This is an opportunity to be a volunteer subject matter expert for creating a new job task analysis in efforts to redevelop the Molecular Biology Certification Examination in Forensic Biology (DNA). Please see the following and link if you are interested.

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Greetings from the American Board of Criminalistics,

In our quest for ISO/IEC 17024 Accreditation, we are convening a group of Subject Matter Experts (SME) for a Job Analysis of forensic biology. We are looking for experts who perform “cradle to grave” analysis as well as those whose jobs might be described as either “biology evidence screener” or “forensic DNA analyst,” and handle those aspects of cases separately. If you are chosen, you will meet with a trained facilitator who will take you through the two-day Job Analysis process. This process will identify all of the job duties of a forensic biologist and then separate those job duties into their relevant tasks.

You may be asking yourselves why we are doing this if we already have existing exams. The ABC is constantly striving to improve our exams and part of that is making sure that they are testing the jobs that people are actually performing. We will select participants based on the following (in no particular order): geographic area, experience, gender, and availability.  These distinctions are recommended so that the entire community is properly represented. 

You do not need to be a current ABC certificant to participate. The training will be held in conjunction with the ISHI meeting in Seattle. An additional hotel night and per diem costs will be covered by the ABC; however, there will be no additional compensation for work absences. So please take a moment to fill out the survey found via this link:

http://www.criminalistics.com/MolBio-SME-survey-2017.html

We look forward to working with you.

Regards,

Christopher Hamburg, D-ABC
President

Marie Samples, F-ABC
Chair, Examinations Committee

The 47th  annual MAFS Fall Meeting will be hosted by the Indiana State Police Laboratory in Indianapolis, IN on September 16th – September 21st, 2018. The meeting will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel – Union Station in downtown Indianapolis.  The room rate is $129/night plus taxes.  

The theme and logo for the 2018 Fall Meeting will be unveiled at the 2017 Fall Meeting in Cincinnati.    

Dates: September 16th – 21th, 2018
Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel – Union Station, in Downtown Indianapolis.
Address: 123 W. Louisiana Street, Indianapolis, IN 46225
Website: www.crowneplaza.com/ind-downtown
Hotel Rate:$129/night plus taxes  

Details for exhibitor information has now been posted for the MAFS 2017 Fall Meeting!  More information can be found here.

The MAFS 2016 Fall Meeting planners are offering for sale a polo shirt with a full-colored embroidered MAFS logo.  The polos are 65:35 cotton:polyester and are stone colored.  Polos are available in men’s and women’s styles, sizes for both are XS-3XL.  Prices are $23 each for XS-XL, add $2.00 for 2XL; $3.00 for 3XL) Shipping is an additional $6.  Shirts can be picked up by someone else attending the meeting, you will just need to designate who will be picking your shirt up for you. 

TO ORDER CLICK

 HERE

PLEASE NOTE

This order form is for purchases by those who will not be attending the meeting.  If you plan to go to the meeting in Branson, you will be able to purchase your shirt when you register for the meeting on CVENT! 

Registration for the 45th Annual MAFS Fall Meeting is now open!   Please click the link below for details:

Registration Link

Abstracts for the 2016 MAFS Fall Meeting (Branson, MO) have now been added!

Please click here to access the MAFS 2016 Fall Meeting Homepage