Forensics Experts Named To Panels

NIST announced last week that 70 experts will join the Organization of Scientific Area Committees, a group designed to set standards and guidelines for the forensic sciences. The new appointees include 15 members of a chemistry and instrumental analysis panel that will oversee creation of forensic science standards in areas including controlled substances, explosives, geological materials, gunshot residue, trace materials, and toxicology. The members include federal, state, and local crime lab chemists, academics, and nonprofit researchers, as well as NIST scientists. NIST also announced the membership of four other forensic science oversight committees: IT/Multimedia, Biology/DNA, Crime Scene/Death Investigation, and Physics/Pattern. The agency created the committee structure last year in response to a 2009 National Academy of Sciences report revealing that little research underlies most forensic science.