Advance Your Research Skills
CSAFE, a NIST Center of Excellence, values talented young scientists interested in partnering with us to improve the United States criminal justice system. Our team is increasing the scientific foundations of pattern and digital evidence through innovative research and training opportunities. Alongside contributing to the fair administration of justice, our dynamic community is passionate about mentoring the next generation of leading researchers.
With CSAFE, students gain valuable professional experience and prepare for a career in the criminal justice, forensic science, judicial and related fields. We invite students committed to innovation and excellence to inquire about our available opportunities.
The Ultimate Platform for Statistical & Forensic Education
CSAFE Learning is a hub for students exploring the application of statistics in forensic science. From quick videos to in-depth courses, the platform is full of cutting-edge research and real-world examples that can take your statistical knowledge to the next level.
OSAC STG Student Membership
The OSAC Statistics Task Group (STG) is looking for Student Affiliate Members.
As a member, graduate students will have the opportunity to work with leading forensic statisticians and learn how statistics can help forensic scientists in their daily casework.
Interested in participating? Click the button for more information.
Student Research Opportunities
CSAFE REU AT IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
REU, or Research Experience for Undergraduates, is CSAFE’s ten-week, immersive summer internship program where students discover how statistical and computational concepts apply to CSAFE’s key research areas in pattern or digital evidence. REU students work toward achieving CSAFE’s core mission of building a statistically sound and scientifically solid foundation for the analysis and interpretation of forensic evidence.
NIST SUMMER UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP (SURF)
CSAFE partner, NIST, operates A summer program called SURF. The SURF program is designed to inspire undergraduate students to pursue careers in STEM through a unique research experience that supports the NIST mission. For 11 weeks, SURF students contribute to the ongoing research of one of the six NIST facilities. Students work under the mentorship of a NIST scientist or engineer.
DATA SCIENCE FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD YOUNG SCHOLARS PROGRAM
The Data Science for the Public Good (DSPG) Young Scholars program is an immersive summer program that engages students from across Iowa to work together on projects that address local and state government challenges around critical social issues relevant in the world today. DSPG resident scholars conduct research at the intersection of statistics, computation and the social sciences to determine how information generated within every community can be leveraged to improve quality of life and inform public policy.
RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES AT CSAFE
CSAFE undergraduate research positions will advance your problem solving, professional communication and research skills. You will work alongside our team of statisticians, scientists, post-doctoral scholars and graduate students on complex and challenging projects in areas such as firearms, handwriting, bloodspatter and shoeprint analysis. These academic initiatives provide future forensic science professionals with hands-on opportunities to learn about the roles statistics and computational analysis play in both research and the field.
Available Resources
For Students
Found 282 Results
Page 1 of 15
Page 1 of 15
Page 1 of 15
Advancing the Understanding of 3D Imaging for Firearms Identification
Type: Presentation Slides Research Area(s): Firearms and Toolmarks
Published: 2024 | By: Melissa Nally
Houston Forensic Science Center, in collaboration with CSAFE, has been awarded an NIJ grant to conduct a study focused on comparability of images acquired by 3D instruments manufactured by different vendors. The vendors participating in this study are Cadre (TopMatch),…
Computational Shoeprint Analysis for Forensic Science
Type: Dissertation Research Area(s): Footwear
Published: 2024 | By: Samia Shafique
Shoeprints are a common type of evidence found at crime scenes and are regularly used in forensic investigations. However, their utility is limited by the lack of reference footwear databases that cover the large and growing number of distinct shoe…
Score-based Likelihood Ratios Using Stylometric Text Embeddings
Type: Poster Research Area(s): Forensic Statistics,Handwriting
Published: 2024 | By: Rachel Longjohn
We consider the problem setting in which we have two sets of texts in digital form and would like to quantify our beliefs that the two sets of texts were written by the same author versus by two different authors.…
How do Labs Ensure Quality? A Nationwide Review of SOPs for Latent Print Examination
Type: Presentation Slides Research Area(s): Implementation and Practice,Latent Print
Published: 2024 | By: Brett Gardner
This presentation is from the 108th International Association for Identification (IAI) Annual Educational Conference, Reno, Nevada, August 11-17, 2024. Posted with permission of CSAFE.
Statistics and its Applications in Forensic Science and the Criminal Justice System
Type: Presentation Slides Research Area(s): Forensic Statistics,Implementation and Practice
Published: 2024 | By: Alicia Carriquiry
This presentation is from the 2024 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM), Portland, Oregon, August 3-8, 2024.
Algorithmic matching of striated tool marks
Type: Presentation Slides Research Area(s): Firearms and Toolmarks,Forensic Statistics
Published: 2024 | By: Yuhang Lin
Automatic matching algorithms for assessing the similarity between striation marks have been investigated for bullet lands and some tool marks, such as screwdrivers. We are interested in the investigation of how well tools can be identified by marks left on…
Silencing the Defense Expert
Type: Presentation Slides Research Area(s): Forensic Statistics,Implementation and Practice,Training and Education
Published: 2024 | By: Jeff Salyards
In the wake of the 2009 NRC and 2016 PCAST Reports, the Firearms and Toolmark (FATM) discipline has come under increasing scrutiny. Validation studies like AMES I, Keisler, AMES II, Best & Gardner, and Guyll have provided important information about…
Developing a Repeatable and Reproducible Protocol for Establishing Combined Minutiae Frequencies
Type: Presentation Slides Research Area(s): Latent Print,Training and Education
Published: 2024 | By: Adele Quigley-McBride
Fingerprint minutia types influence LPEs’ analyses and evaluations during casework, with features perceived as rarer generally given more weight. Last year, we reported on examiner perceptions of minutia type frequency. This year, we present the next phase of our research.…
A reproducible pipeline for extracting representative signals from wire cuts
Type: Conference Proceeding Research Area(s): Firearms and Toolmarks,Forensic Statistics
Published: 2024 | By: Yuhang Lin
We propose a reproducible pipeline for extracting representative signals from 2D topographic scans of the tips of cut wires. The process fully addresses many potential problems in the quality of wire cuts, including edge effects, extreme values, trends, missing values,…
An algorithm for forensic toolmark comparisons
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Firearms and Toolmarks,Forensic Statistics
Published: 2024 | By: Maria Cuellar
Forensic toolmark analysis traditionally relies on subjective human judgment, leading to inconsistencies and lack of transparency. The multitude of variables, including angles and directions of mark generation, further complicates comparisons. To address this, we first generate a dataset of 3D…
Challenges in Modeling, Interpreting, and Drawing Conclusions from Images as Forensic Evidence
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Footwear,Forensic Statistics,Handwriting,Latent Print
Published: 2024 | By: Karen Kafadar
When a crime is committed, law enforcement directs crime scene experts to obtain evidence that may be pertinent to identifying the perpetrator(s). Much of this evidence comes in the form of images, either digitally transcribed (e.g.,: fingerprints, handwriting), or as…
A preliminary study of the manufacturing of breech faces
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Firearms and Toolmarks,Forensic Statistics
Published: 2024 | By: Veronica Franklin
Firearm examiners may face challenges with subclass characteristics. Subclass characteristics have the potential to be confused with individual characteristics if a careful analysis for the presence of subclass characteristics is not performed. Several case studies are reported in the literature…
Aligning Shoeprint Images that have nonlinear distortion effects
Type: Poster Research Area(s): Footwear,Forensic Statistics
Published: 2024 | By: Gautham Venkatasubramanian
Shoeprints are aligned before assessing similarity, and automatic alignment algorithms can handle differences in translation, rotation [1], and scale. But shoeprints recorded at a crime scene may be partials photographed at an angle without an L-scale, with perspective or other…
Forensic Analysis of Android Cloud SDKs
Type: Presentation Slides Research Area(s): Digital
Published: 2024 | By: Chen Shi
This presentation is from the 76th Annual Conference of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS), Denver, Colorado, February 19-24, 2024.
Is it a True Match? Top k correlations in a database search
Type: Presentation Slides Research Area(s): Firearms and Toolmarks,Forensic Statistics
Published: 2024 | By: Blanca Parker
This presentation is from the 76th Annual Conference of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS), Denver, Colorado, February 19-24, 2024.
Quantifying Bayes Factors for Forensic Handwriting Evidence
Type: Presentation Slides Research Area(s): Handwriting
Published: 2024 | By: Anyesha Ray
This presentation is from the 76th Annual Conference of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS), Denver, Colorado, February 19-24, 2024.
Quantifying Writer Variance Through Rainbow Triangle Graph Decomposition
Type: Presentation Slides Research Area(s): Handwriting
Published: 2024 | By: Alexandra Arabio
This presentation is from the 76th Annual Conference of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS), Denver, Colorado, February 19-24, 2024
Graph-Theoretic Techniques for Forensic Image Comparisons
Type: Presentation Slides Research Area(s): Footwear,Forensic Statistics
Published: 2024 | By: Gautham Venkatasubramanian
This presentation is from the 76th Annual Conference of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS), Denver, Colorado, February 19-24, 2024.
Toward Consistency in Latent Print Examiners’ Naming Conventions and Minutiae Frequency Estimations
Type: Presentation Slides Research Area(s): Latent Print
Published: 2024 | By: Adele Quigley-McBride
This presentation is from the 76th Annual Conference of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS), Denver, Colorado, February 19-24, 2024.
The Impact of Multi-Camera Smart Phones on Source Camera Identification
Type: Presentation Slides Research Area(s): Digital
Published: 2024 | By: Stephanie Reinders
An investigator has a questioned image from an unknown source and wants to determine whether it came from a camera on a person of interest’s smartphone. This scenario is referred to as source camera identification. Researchers discovered that slight imperfections…
Page 1 of 15