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 […]
This Week in Forensic Science
No one has hours to scour the papers to keep up with the latest news, so we’ve curated the top news stories in the field of Forensic Science for this week. Here’s what you need to know to get out the door! SAKI Funds Help Solve 40-Year-Old Cold Case (Police1 – 5/22/2026) On May 18, 2026, […]
Dear Mentor: The Mission Bridges the Gap
Two FLA members from different states sent the Forensic Leadership Alliance a version of the same question, working at different points in their careers. How can leaders bridge generational gaps while still mentoring new staff into confident professionals? What strategies actually work when people on the same team think differently about how the work gets […]
Is Your Extraction Instrument the Problem? A Q&A with ISHI Student Ambassador Laila Mansour
Most labs rely on their extraction instruments without stopping to ask whether they’re performing as expected. Laila Mansour did ask — and what she found had implications not just for her own lab at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, but for any lab running casework on aging equipment. Mansour’s research compared DNA yields from […]
This Week in Forensic Science
No one has hours to scour the papers to keep up with the latest news, so we’ve curated the top news stories in the field of Forensic Science for this week. Here’s what you need to know to get out the door! Cybergenetics Launches TrueAllele Investigative Database (TA-ID) to Help Law Enforcement Turn “Inconclusive” DNA Into […]
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 […]
From Profiling to Prevention: What Ann Burgess Has Learned from Fifty Years of Violent Crime Research
Ann Burgess has spent more than five decades studying the people who commit the most violent crimes and the people they hurt. She helped create the scientific foundation for behavioral profiling, co-developed the concept of rape trauma syndrome, and worked with the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit on the first systematic study of serial killers. At […]
This Week in Forensic Science
No one has hours to scour the papers to keep up with the latest news, so we’ve curated the top news stories in the field of Forensic Science for this week. Here’s what you need to know to get out the door! How Discarded Chewing Gum Helped Convict a Serial Rapist of Two Cold Case Murders […]
What They’re Still Figuring Out: A Conversation with the ISHI Advisory Committee
Experience doesn’t eliminate uncertainty. The ISHI Advisory Committee was asked what they’re still figuring out as forensic scientists. The answers are specific, honest, and probably familiar. https://youtu.be/xpOeLs-hB-c Shena Latcham is still working on training. Not whether to train — how. Specifically: how to get analysts prepared to walk into a courtroom and hold up under […]