Forensic Fridays Seminars

January 18, 2013
Africa Room
1:00 - 4:30
                                  

Digital Detectives:  A Computer Forensics Update

DUID:  The Science and Law of Driving Under the Influence of Distractions

In the wake of a recently enacted Pennsylvania statute prohibiting operators of motor vehicles from texting or emailing, this seminar is being developed to examine the question of driver impairment from sources other than alcohol and drugs, both from a scientific and legal standpoint, including questions about the ongoing legality of hands-on telephone use by drivers.  Please join speakers Gabriel Alexander, Accident Investigator for Apex Engineering; Westmoreland County Assistant D.A. James Hopson; Criminal Defense Attorney Carl Parise; Institute namesake Dr. Cyril Wecht; and Wayne Wu of the Center for Neural Basis of Cognition at Carnegie Mellon University for this informative seminar.

Whose DNA is it Anyway?

**Co-Sponsored by the Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences and the Duquesne University School of Nursing**

DNA can free the innocent and convict the guilty... but only when it's actually used. Government agencies control DNA evidence; however, many have not yet adopted analysis methods capable of obtaining optimal information. What's more, many agencies restrict access to data that can advance criminal justice or prevent crime. This seminar will bring together a diversity of expert viewpoints in order to advance our understanding of the legal, scientific and ethical dimensions of this issue and improve upon current forensic practice.

Please join Professor Alfred Blumstein, J. Erik Jonsson University Professor of Urban Systems and Operations Research at Carnegie Mellon University; Dr. Gregory Hampikian, professor of biological sciences and criminal justice at Boise State University and director of the Idaho Innocence Project; Detective Kenneth Mains of the Lycoming County District Attorney's Office; Dr. Mark Perlin, CEO and chief scientific officer of Cybergenetics; and Professor Victor Weedn, chairman of the Department of Forensic Sciences at The George Washington University, for this timely and informative seminar.

April 19, 2013
Africa Room
1:00 - 4:30

Interpreting Behavior at the Serial Murder and Sexual Homicide Crime Scenes

This seminar will provide those assigned to investigate and prosecute complex homicide and sexual assault cases a framework for analyzing the interaction among the offender, victim and scene, and then using that analysis to interpret such crimes.  Featuring Mark Safarik, a former senior member of the FBI's elite Behavioral Analysis Unit.

Forensic Audio and LInguistic Analysis of Insider Threats:  From Watergate to Today

Forty years after the Watergate scandal, advances in the worlds of forensic linguistics and audio analysis are enabling more effective investigation of insider threats.  Featuring eminent forensic linguist Dr. Carole Chask i and Phil Mellinger, a security/intel analyst and anti-malware developer.