Forensic Science Faculty Research

Our faculty have a wide variety of research interests across all disciplines of forensic science.

Dr. Jason Brooks

My research interests are in:

• Medicolegal Death Investigation
• Veterinary forensic pathology
• Pathology of gunshot wounds and estimation of range of fire
• Estimation of postmortem interval

Dr. William Campbell

My research interests are in:

• development of LC/MS techniques for drug analysis of bodily fluids 
• development of HPLC phase chemistry for drug and alcohol analysis
• analysis of various matrix types for trace analysis
• development of HPLC/MS techniques for rapid analysis of designer drugs
• learn more about Dr. Campbell

Prof. Susan Clutter

My research interests are in:

• Crime scene investigation
• Blood pattern interpretation
• Fire science

Dr. Mitchell Holland

My research interests are in:

• basic biological discovery, especially in the area of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genetics
• leveraging the power of massively parallel sequencing (MPS) to 
  • measure rates of mtDNA heteroplasmy in different population groups
  • evaluate the transmission of heteroplasmic variants between maternal relatives and tissue types
  • assess the impact of damage on the interpretation of low-level heteroplasmic variants
  • develop best practices for the application of MPS approaches to forensic casework.
• learn more about the Holland Research Group

Michael Kusluski

My research interests are in:

• photonic visualization of gunshot residue patterns on victim clothing
• reconstruction of shooting incidents involving automobile glass and complex surfaces
• sequencing of bloodstain patterns

Dr. Jenn McElhoe

My research interests are in:

• massively parallel sequencing
• evaluating heteroplasmy in mitochondrial DNA
• bioinformatics
• applying statistical evaluation to datasets
• learn more about Dr. McElhoe

Ralph Ristenbatt

My research interests are in:

• areas related to crime scene investigation and reconstruction
• analysis of traces at crime scenes including blood, firearms evidence, impression evidence, etc.
• aspects of crime scene reconstruction as the apply to forensic veterinary pathology
• learn more about Penn State CSI