AAFS 2027

Thursday, February 18
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Presenter:
Anthony Greiter, BA
Center for Statistics and Applications in Forensic Evidence (CSAFE)
Ames, IA

Learning Objectives: After attending this presentation, participants will be able to identify and mitigate the three types of cognitive load (intrinsic, extraneous, and germane) that impair an audience's ability to process novel, highly complex scientific data. Additionally, attendees will learn how to apply the AGENT framework to translate complex data into clear, visual narratives that command professional authority without sacrificing scientific rigor.

Impact Statement: This presentation will impact the forensic science community by establishing presentation design as a critical component of scientific integrity and international collaboration. By demonstrating how bad visual engineering leads to cognitive overload and audience detachment, this session equips practitioners with the tools needed to ensure their research influences policy, secures funding, and drives meaningful adoption.

Scientific progress is threatened not by a lack of data, but by the "Death by PowerPoint" graveyard. As the forensic science community expands its scope Around the World and Beyond, practitioners, researchers, and legal professionals face the unprecedented challenge of presenting complex, probabilistic data across international borders. From microgravity evidence collection to extraterrestrial telemetry and thermal body-bag dynamics, the science of tomorrow is exponentially more complex. However, when experts present these critical breakthroughs using text-heavy slides, dense data spreadsheets, and corporate jargon, they inadvertently trigger severe cognitive overload, forcing decision-makers to tune out. Being "exhaustive" on stage or in a high-stakes briefing routinely results in being completely ignored.

This engaging Deep-Dive Breakout Session directly addresses this critical vulnerability by introducing the AGENT Framework for Technical Translation. Rooted in Cognitive Load Theory and Dual-Coding Theory, this session rejects the passive, comfortable lecture model in favor of a captivating, real-world intervention. 

Together, we will examine why the human brain experiences complete cognitive shutdown when exposed to information dumps and how poorly engineered presentation graphics actively destroy audience comprehension and memory retention. Attendees will participate in a live "Jargon Autopsy" and slide pressure test, demonstrating exactly how to eliminate presentation clutter, scaffold intrinsic scientific complexity, and build "deliberation-ready" visual assets that make technical brilliance impossible to ignore. Whether you are pitching research funding, establishing international protocols, or briefing leadership on extraterrestrial mishap investigations, this session provides the exact empirical communication standards required to command a room and ensure your science drives real-world (or space) action.

Thursday, February 18
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Presenter:
Marcus Vinicius Oliveira Andrade, PhD 
Brazilian Academy of Forensic Sciences
Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Learning Objectives: After attending this seminar, participants will understand how artworks are increasingly used in fraud, corruption, tax evasion, illicit trafficking, and money-laundering schemes, and why traditional attribution methods alone are often insufficient in judicial investigations. Participants will learn how forensic scientists integrate technical art history, provenance research, conservation science, and advanced analytical techniques into a structured investigative workflow capable of generating objective evidence for courts and law-enforcement agencies.

Impact Statement: This presentation demonstrates how forensic science can transform artworks from cultural objects into sources of objective judicial evidence. Participants will gain practical insight into multidisciplinary forensic decision-making applicable not only to art crime investigations but also to financial crimes, asset recovery, fraud investigations, and cultural heritage protection.

Every year, billions of dollars circulate through the international art market with limited regulatory oversight. Paintings may serve simultaneously as cultural heritage, investment assets, tax shelters, collateral, or vehicles for fraud and money laundering. For forensic scientists, they may also become highly complex pieces of evidence.

This session follows the investigative journey of a questioned artwork from its seizure during a criminal investigation to the courtroom. Through real Brazilian forensic case studies, participants will discover how seemingly ordinary paintings became central evidence in corruption, financial crime, illicit trafficking, and authentication investigations.

Rather than focusing on individual analytical techniques, the presentation emphasizes forensic reasoning. Attendees will follow the same decision-making process adopted by forensic examiners: establishing chain of custody, documenting condition, evaluating provenance, identifying investigative hypotheses, selecting appropriate analytical methods, interpreting multimodal results, and integrating scientific findings with historical and documentary evidence.

Illustrated with striking visual examples, including hidden paintings, altered signatures, incompatible pigments, unexpected binders, radiographic discoveries, elemental mapping, and isotope-based provenance markers, the seminar demonstrates how conservation science, materials science, analytical chemistry, and art history converge to produce objective evidence suitable for judicial proceedings.

The session concludes by discussing emerging challenges involving artificial intelligence, increasingly sophisticated forgeries, digital documentation, and the growing role of scientific laboratories in combating financial crimes involving cultural property.

Designed as an engaging forensic narrative rather than a technical lecture, this seminar offers attendees an accessible introduction to one of the fastest-growing interdisciplinary areas of forensic science while illustrating how rigorous scientific methodology protects both justice and cultural heritage.

Thursday, February 18
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Presenters:
Ken Mohr, BS
Crime Lab Design
St. Louis, MO

Jinhee Lee, MA
Crime Lab Design
St. Louis, MO

Jon Howard, MA
Crime Lab Design
St. Louis, MO

Scott Morgan, BS
Crime Lab Design
St. Louis, MO

Learning Objectives: Participants will identify recurring operational and environmental factors observed across forensic laboratories and medical examiner facilities despite differences in geography, climate, culture, and organizational structure. Through comparative observations from facilities in Asia, the Middle East, and North America, attendees will learn practical approaches for recognizing how operational environments support evidence integrity, workflow efficiency, staff safety, and long-term adaptability.

Impact Statement: This presentation encourages forensic professionals to view their facilities through the lens of operational performance rather than physical infrastructure alone. By recognizing common environmental factors observed across diverse forensic facilities, attendees will gain practical insights that can inform future planning, renovation, and modernization efforts while supporting safe, efficient, and resilient forensic operations.

Forensic facilities are shaped by geography, climate, culture, legal systems, available resources, and organizational structure. One might expect these differences to produce fundamentally different operational environments. Surprisingly, comparative observations across forensic facilities suggest otherwise.

This presentation explores recurring operational and environmental themes observed while working with forensic laboratories and medical examiner facilities in Singapore, Abu Dhabi, and multiple regions throughout the United States, including the Midwest, West Coast, and East Coast. Rather than comparing individual projects or architectural solutions, the session examines the common operational challenges that repeatedly emerge despite vastly different settings.

Using comparative case examples, attendees will explore how evidence movement, personnel circulation, contamination prevention, environmental controls, staff interaction, flexibility for emerging technologies, and operational resilience consistently influence forensic operations. While each jurisdiction responded to unique local conditions — including climate, regulatory frameworks, accreditation requirements, and organizational priorities — the underlying operational objectives remained remarkably similar: protecting evidence, supporting scientific work, improving workflow, safeguarding personnel, and preparing for future needs.

Designed as an interactive session, this presentation combines comparative storytelling, visual case examples, and audience discussion to identify what may be considered the "invisible variables" of forensic operations — environmental conditions that often go unnoticed until they begin to affect performance. Rather than advocating a single design approach, the session focuses on operational lessons that transcend geography and facility type.

Participants will leave with a practical framework for recognizing universal operational principles that can assist in evaluating existing facilities, planning renovations, or developing future forensic laboratories and medical examiner offices. As forensic science continues to evolve worldwide, understanding these shared operational patterns provides valuable perspective on creating environments that remain adaptable, resilient, and supportive of forensic excellence.

Friday, February 19
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Presenter:
Agnes D. Winokur, PhD
Drug Enforcement Administration
Springfield, VA

Learning Objectives: After attending this presentation, attendees will understand current United States and international efforts to standardize the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in forensic science, the challenges of building consensus-based, technically sound standards in a rapidly evolving field, and the varying global approaches taken to ensure forensic reliability is not compromised by AI/ML implementation in laboratory settings.

Impact Statement: By understanding standard development activities for consensus-based AI and ML Standards in forensic sciences, stakeholders will be more equipped to overcome the barriers in emerging technology adoption, to optimize processes, and automate high-volume tasks.

Attendees will gain a better understanding of the road maps and processes used to not only prioritize the development of specific standards and recommendations as they relate to AI and ML tools in forensic sciences but to identify gaps of topics and concepts not yet explored. Attendees will hear about ASTM International E30.14 Subcommittee in AI and Machine Learning in Forensic Sciences, its process on the development of three standards, and other highlights. We will review the Standard Practice for Establishing Governance for the Use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Systems in Forensic Science Disciplines, the Standard Practice for Data Management for the Use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Systems in Forensic Science Disciplines, and the Standard Practice for Human Involvement in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Systems in Forensic Science Disciplines.

After this presentation, attendees will have a better appreciation for the status and future path of forensic standards involving AI and ML tools and applications. The three ASTM standard documents will be the first consensus-based standards in AI and ML in forensics in the United States and are setting the broader understanding and path for future work items, such as standards on procuring AI tools and services, training, and compliance.

Friday, February 19
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Presenter:
Bartosz Klepczyński, PhD
Polish Military Gendarmerie
Mińsk Mazowiecki, Poland

Learning Objectives: After attending the presentation, attendees will learn about an original methodology for forensic investigation of military Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), developed based on lessons learned from the analysis of actual incidents investigated after 2022. The organizational and substantive principles of the methodology will be presented, including threat assessment, the integration of traditional forensic investigations with digital analysis, and the reconstruction of the course of events. Participants will also learn about practical examples of applying the proposed model during the analysis of real-world cases.

Impact Statement: The growing number of incidents involving military UAVs poses new challenges for forensic laboratories regarding the preservation and analysis of evidence. The presented methodology integrates security issues, traditional forensic analysis, and computer forensics into a unified procedural model that can serve as the basis for developing national and international standards for military UAV investigations.

The Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine in 2022 created new challenges for law enforcement agencies and forensic laboratories in countries neighboring the war zone. One such challenge has been incidents involving the exposure of military UAVs and their components on the territory of the Republic of Poland. An analysis of these incidents revealed a lack of a comprehensive methodology covering both the safety of conducting investigations and the integration of traditional and digital forensic methods. Existing scientific publications focus primarily on computer forensics, the analysis of data stored in devices, and UAV flight reconstruction, while only to a limited extent do they address the comprehensive use of biological evidence, fingerprints, handwritten markings, and other physical traces left on military unmanned platforms.

It was assumed that the integration of threat assessment, classical forensic examination, digital analysis, and spatial reconstruction enhances the comprehensiveness of the investigative process and the evidentiary value of evidence secured from military UAVs.

Based on experience gained from the analysis of actual incidents investigated after 2022, a proprietary methodology was developed that encompasses the assessment of CBRNE and explosive threats, documentation of the discovery site, the preservation of biological, dactyloscopic, and handwritten markings found on structural components, the analysis of electronic devices, digital data recovery, the use of reverse engineering methods when data cannot be read using standard methods, analysis of telemetry records, and reconstruction of the mission's course. A key element of the proposed model is the integration of research results conducted by specialists in various fields of forensic science into a unified process for interpreting evidence.

The presentation will feature selected case studies illustrating the practical application of the developed methodology during investigations of actual military UAVs analyzed after 2022. The presentation will discuss the experiences of the Forensic Laboratory of the Polish Military Gendarmerie related to organizing the investigative process, collaboration among experts from various specialties, and the importance of combining the results of traditional forensic investigations with digital analysis and incident reconstruction.

The examples presented demonstrate the practical usefulness of the proposed procedural model and its potential to serve as the basis for developing uniform standards for the forensic examination of military unmanned aerial vehicles.