Mikalaa Martin is employed as a Forensic Scientist at RTI International where she supports a variety of multidisciplinary forensic science research projects under the Forensic Technology Center of Excellence, National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, and various other initiatives funded by the Department of Justice and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Mrs. Martin serves as a Steering Committee Member for the NIST/NIJ Expert Working Group on Human Factors in DNA Interpretation.

Mrs. Martin began her career as a Forensic Evidence Technician with the Greenville County Department of Public Safety, Forensic Division, Crime Scene Section in Greenville, SC where she served as a crime scene investigator and completed in-house processing of collected evidentiary items.

Mrs. Martin received her Bachelor of Science in Forensic and Investigative Science with emphases in Forensic Examination and Forensic Biology from West Virginia University. During her undergraduate career, Mrs. Martin completed collegiate internships at the Houston Forensic Science Center in Houston, TX and the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Office in Morgantown, WV. Mrs. Martin’s independent undergraduate research consisted of the use of the FARO FocusS 3D Laser Scanner and associated SCENE Software for crime scene documentation and an evaluation study on the use of blind quality control samples in the discipline of latent fingerprints.