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Young Forensic Scientists Forum Newsletter - March/April 2003 Let
It Snow! |
| Snow, Snow, Snow. While the theme of this years meeting was basically fighting terrorism, the YFSF officers and some of the presenters ended up fighting the snow on the East coast. Despite the airport delays and cancelled flights the YFSF had another successful year in Chicago. On Tuesday we held the YFSF academic session and had many wonderful presenters and a great lunch. Our day began with President
Graham Jones addressing us about the current pressures and stresses in forensic science. He mentioned such issues as low laboratory budgets, accreditation, and early burn out due to stressful conditions. After his presentation,
Marie Samples, Criminalistics Chairperson, gave us some great advice about becoming an AAFS member, being an involved member, joining regional associations, and moving up the ranks in AAFS.
Carol Henderson then talked to us about legal issues and some very interesting and funny cases. After a good laugh, we were once again reminded about the not so fun aspects of forensic science when
Sheila Estacio and Mike Hennesy of GeneCodes Inc. spoke to us about the World Trade Center Attack. They presented a photomontage and a very interesting case that was solved due to multidisciplinary work. After the WTC presentation, fiction author and forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs presented some casework and talked about how she used her experience to began a career as a fiction author. After looking at some graphic pictures of bones we were treated to lunch courtesy of the Institute of Forensic Sciences at the University of New Haven (UNH) and the UNH Forensic Science and Chemistry Club. This is the first time we have been able to sponsor a lunch and were pleased to be able to allow the participants to meet each other and some of the presenters in a relaxed setting. Once our stomachs were full and our energy level restored, we went back to the meeting and were addressed by our founder Steven Batterman. Dr. Batterman told us about the history of the YFSF, his hope for future involvement, the expected re-activation of the mentor program, and seeing many new faces next year. We were then privileged to hear a great presentation by the 2002 Emerging Forensic Scientist Award winner, Helena Soomer, who not only told us about her experience as the EFS winner, but also about her research, experience at Interpol, and acquiring grant money. Before our last presentation we opened the forum for discussion and were able to answer many questions and address many of the participants concerns and comments. Thanks to Marilyn Miller for helping with the discussion and also with adjusting the lighting throughout the session. We then moved into the mock trial demonstration and as usual were entertained by Chad Dold, Ken Melson, and this year's brave witness David Exline. Following the session we were scheduled to have our first interview/ resume workshop, but unfortunately had to cancel the event because our moderator, Kathryn Link was snowbound in Connecticut. However, we would like to thank Thomas Blackwell and Jim Hurley for agreeing to help and showing up despite the cancellation. We would also like to thank all of our participants for allowing us to continue to grow, and we hope to see you all, along with many new faces next year in Dallas. |
Copyright
© 2003 Young Forensic Scientists Forum / American Academy of Forensic Sciences |