Midwest Forensic Scientists Will Gather at ISU on May 26

Input will be used to develop resource center to assist regional crime laboratories

AMES, Iowa -- Forensic investigators from eight Midwestern states and four federal agencies will meet here May 26 to discuss a proposed regional forensics resource center at Iowa State University.

Participants in the daylong workshop will provide input on the types of research, services and training that would be most helpful to crimelaboratories in Iowa and surrounding states. Officials at two research facilities located on the ISU campus will use that feedback to helpdetermine the scope of the proposed Midwest Forensics Resource Center.

Workshop participants will also brainstorm about potential funding sources for the center. Currently, ISU's Institute for Physical Research and Technology has allocated $44,000 in seed funds to establish the partnerships needed to launch the proposed forensics center.

"The information we get from this workshop will be crucial in laying the groundwork for the center," said Shelley Coldiron, an associate scientist at the Microanalytical Instrumentation Center and a leader in the efforts to establish the forensics resource center. "The people who will be attending the workshop represent the crime laboratories we plan to serve, and we want to know what types of resources and research they'd like us to provide."

Crime lab officials from Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin will attend the workshop along with representatives from the FBI, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Terrorism Preparedness Center and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

The proposal's organizers want the center to be a focal point for innovative research in forensic science, particularly in developing toolsand techniques to analyze crime-scene evidence more quickly and reliably. In addition, they envision the center providing specialized analyticalservices that aren't available at crime laboratories in the Midwest as well as maintaining a list of regional experts who could provide assistance in forensic investigations.

Coldiron said the center would also serve as a regional training facility for local and federal agencies and as a learning laboratory for studentsinterested in careers in forensic science. Another goal is the development of a forensic-science curriculum for students at ISU and other interested universities.

Researchers at the Microanalytical Instrumentation Center and the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory are already involved in forensic research for the FBI, the Department of Energy and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations. The scientists will discuss some of the collaborative efforts at the May 26 meeting to illustrate how the proposed center could help individual crime laboratories solve specific problems.

One example is an improved fingerprint-development chamber that scientists have devised for the Iowa DCI's crime lab. The chamber provides greater control in detecting and receiving fingerprints from crime-scene evidence and allows criminalists to control the humidity, temperature and other factors inside the box.

Identifying sources of funding will also be crucial for the proposed center, said David Baldwin, director of Ames Laboratory's Environmental and Protection Sciences Program and another leader in the forensics center effort.

"We don't want to be a burden to any of the states in the Midwest, especially Iowa," Baldwin said. "We don't want to be a drain on resourcesthat might otherwise go to the crime laboratories or we're shooting ourselves in the foot. The center needs to be a regional laboratory that's funded nationally."

ISU's Institute for Physical Research and Technology is a network of 11 research and technology-development centers that includes Ames Laboratory and the Microanalytical Instrumentation Center. Ames Laboratory is owned by the U.S. Department of Energy and operated byISU. The Lab conducts research into various areas of national concern, including energy resources, high-speed computer design, environmentalcleanup and restoration, and the synthesis and study of new materials.

The Microanalytical Instrumentation Center is an ISU research facility that develops innovative, small-scale analytical and bioanalytical instrumentation.

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Last updated September 6, 2006 rbm