Associate Professor of Anthropology, Dr. Jeanne Marie Stumpf-Carome attended the 4th International Conference on Forensic Research & Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, September 28-30, 2015. Sessions at this conference included Forensic Psychology & Psychiatry, Forensic Toxicology, Forensic Engineering, Wildlife Forensic Science, Forensic DNA Analysis, Forensic Chemistry, Digital Forensics, Forensic Accounting, Forensic Anthropology, Forensic, Pathology, Forensic Sociology, and Forensic Odontology.
Representing business, academe, and the private sector, the presenters and participants arrived from across the globe- including UK, USA, Canada, Japan, Kuwait, Algeria, India, the Netherlands, Spain, Russia, Germany, Brazil, Turkey, Nigeria, Russia, and China.
Dr. Stumpf-Carome notes that while all sessions were relevant to her interests, two sessions were of particular importance for her work; "Cultural considerations in forensic science" and "A novel scale of time since death estimation for use by forensic investigators." The former session, addressed the issues of empirical research devoid of consideration of the holistic spectrum of crime scene investigations, as presented by Suzanna K. Taylor, a Criminal Investigator/Crime Scene Investigator with the Forensic Police Department Alabama. Emphasized was the importance of cultural considerations in forensic science in the pursuit of justice.
The latter session focused around the accuracy of PMI (post-mortem interval) estimation. Presenter, Stephanie Giles, a crime scene investigator for Thames Valley Police, discussed her studies of decomposition at the Anthropology Research Facility (the "Body Farm") at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and with the County Medical Examiner's Office in Pittsburgh to develop more accurate PMI tools for moderately decomposed remains.
"This conference was exhilarating with its breadth, depth and cutting-edge information, and the enthusiasm of our discussions! Back one day, and I am already looking forward to the next Forensic Research Conference scheduled for November 17-19, 2016," said Dr. Stumpf-Carome.