Introducing the 2026 ISHI Student Ambassadors: Mia Gale
Most of the hairs collected at a crime scene were naturally shed. They have no root. Without the root, the DNA sits in the shaft, degraded into fragments under 100 base pairs, which most commercial extraction kits aren’t designed to capture. Mia Gale’s master’s research found a way to get it anyway. Mia is one […]
Introducing the 2026 ISHI Student Ambassadors: Daniel Arend
Daniel Arend has spent his PhD studying what happens to DNA during close-contact violence between people who know each other. How much transfers. Where it ends up. How long it persists. Daniel is one of five ISHI 2026 Student Ambassadors attending this year’s symposium in Providence, Rhode Island. The Student Ambassador Program gives emerging forensic […]
Analysis Software, AI Oversight, and a SANE-Led Panel: Three New Sessions at ISHI 2026
Analysis software makes algorithmic decisions that shape how DNA genotype data is interpreted. The AI tools entering forensic workflows require a type of oversight the field is still working out. And analysts who work sexual assault cases rarely hear the investigation described from every angle, including the survivor’s. Three new sessions at ISHI 37 address […]
Introducing the 2026 ISHI Student Ambassadors: Elizabeth Kowalcyzk
Not every forensic lab can afford the top-of-the-line sequencer. Elizabeth Kowalczyk is finding out what the less expensive ones can actually do. Elizabeth is one of five ISHI 37 Student Ambassadors attending this year’s symposium in Providence, Rhode Island. The Student Ambassador Program gives emerging forensic scientists a place at the table before most of […]
Introducing the 2026 ISHI Student Ambassadors: Xiaomeng (Simone) Yang
Dried whole blood. A saliva swab. From either sample, Simone Yang is working to estimate not just who was there, but their weight and build. Xiaomeng (Simone) Yang is one of five ISHI 37 Student Ambassadors attending this year’s symposium in Providence, Rhode Island. The Student Ambassador Program gives emerging forensic scientists a place at […]
Reshaping the Field: The May 2026 ISHI Report is Now Available
Most forensic scientists who become supervisors say the same thing when they look back: the skills that earned the promotion were not the skills the role required. They found that out on their own, after the fact. Nobody told them it was coming. That pattern, one of the most consistent in forensic lab leadership and […]
Introducing the 2026 ISHI Student Ambassadors: Irina Badell Garcia
Irina Badell Garcia is one of five ISHI 37 Student Ambassadors attending this year’s symposium in Providence, Rhode Island. The Student Ambassador Program gives emerging forensic scientists a place at the table before most of the field knows their names. Over the coming weeks, we’ll introduce all five. Irina is a PhD candidate at […]
The Science Led Them Here: Meet the 2026 ISHI Student Ambassadors
Every year, the ISHI Student Ambassador Program selects a cohort of students in forensic science to attend the symposium, present their research, and take their place in the professional community. Not as observers. As colleagues. The connections made at a conference like ISHI during your student years have a way of following you. The researcher […]
Before the First Case: Introducing ISHI On-Demand’s FIGG Module
Most forensic labs first encounter FIGG as an investigative possibility—a technology that solved a high-profile cold case, a grant that suddenly makes it fundable, an investigator asking whether a decades-old profile could yield a lead. The question comes before the framework. That sequencing matters. Forensic investigative genetic genealogy isn’t an extension of existing DNA workflows. […]