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.
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 304 Results
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Environmental Signature Extraction for Forensic Analysis of Audio Recordings Using AI/LLM Models
Type: Presentation Slides Research Area(s): Digital
Published: 2025 | By: Lucky Onyekwelu-Udoka
This presentation is from the 77th Annual Conference of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS), Baltimore, Maryland, February 17-22, 2025.
Developing Reproducible Protocols and Definitions for Selecting Combined Minutiae
Type: Presentation Slides Research Area(s): Latent Print,Training and Education
Published: 2025 | By: Adele Quigley-McBride
Learning Objectives: Attendees will learn about the protocols developed to assess the content of latent print examiners’ responses to questions about use of minutiae frequencies in case work as well as the process through which a repeatable and reproducible protocol…
Close Non-Matches and Database Searches
Type: Presentation Slides Research Area(s): Firearms and Toolmarks,Forensic Statistics
Published: 2025 | By: Blanca Parker
This presentation is from the 77th Annual Conference of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS), Baltimore, Maryland, February 17-22, 2025.f
Forensic Analysis of Google Fit App on WearOS
Type: Presentation Slides Research Area(s):
Published: 2025 | By: Chen Shi
This presentation is from the 77th Annual Conference of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS), Baltimore, Maryland, February 17-22, 2025.
An Introduction to the Forensic Handwriting Analysis Software handwriter
Type: Research Area(s): Forensic Statistics,Handwriting
Published: 2025 | By: Stephanie Reinders
An Overview and Comparison of Software Tools for Quantifying Value of Handwriting Evidence
Type: Presentation Slides Research Area(s): Forensic Statistics,Handwriting
Published: 2025 | By: Danica Ommen
This presentation is from the 77th Annual Conference of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS), Baltimore, Maryland, February 17-22, 2025. Posted with permission of CSAFE.
Developing Reproducible Protocols and Definitions for Selecting Combined Minutiae
Type: Presentation Slides Research Area(s): Latent Print
Published: 2025 | By: Adele Quigley-McBride
Learning Objectives: Attendees will learn about the protocols developed to assess the content of latent print examiners’ responses to questions about use of minutiae frequencies in case work as well as the process through which a repeatable and reproducible protocol…
Quantitative Similarity Assessments of Forensic Images
Type: Presentation Slides Research Area(s): Firearms and Toolmarks,Forensic Statistics
Published: 2025 | By: Gautham Venkatasubramanian
This presentation is from the 77th Annual Conference of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS), Baltimore, Maryland, February 17-22, 2025.
Forensic Footwear: A Retrospective of the Development of the MANTIS Shoe Scanning System
Type: Conference Proceeding,Publication Research Area(s): Footwear,Implementation and Practice
Published: 2024 | By: Richard Stone
There currently are no shoe-scanning devices developed in the United States that can operate in a real-world, variable-weather environment in real-time. Forensics-focused groups, including the NIJ, expressed the need for such a system. To accomplish this, there was first a…
Examiner consistency in perceptions of fingerprint minutia rarity
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Implementation and Practice,Latent Print
Published: 2024 | By: Adele Quigley-McBride
Friction ridge examiners (FREs) identify distinctive features (minutiae) in fingerprints and consider how rare these observed minutiae are in their decisions about both the value of a fingerprint and whether there is enough correspondence between two fingerprints to support an…
Significance of image brightness levels for PRNU camera identification
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Digital,Forensic Statistics
Published: 2024 | By: Abby Martin
A forensic investigator performing source identification on a questioned image from a crime aims to identify the unknown camera that acquired the image. On the camera sensor, minute spatial variations in intensities between pixels, called photo response non-uniformity (PRNU), provide…
Methodological problems in every black-box study of forensic firearm comparisons
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Firearms and Toolmarks,Forensic Statistics
Published: 2024 | By: Maria Cuellar
Reviews conducted by the National Academy of Sciences (2009) and the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (2016) concluded that the field of forensic firearm comparisons has not been demonstrated to be scientifically valid. Scientific validity requires adequately…
A Survey of Naming Conventions for Different Minutia Types in Friction Ridge Examination
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Latent Print
Published: 2024 | By: Heidi Eldridge
Latent print examiners (LPEs) consider the type and rarity of the features found within friction ridge impressions when determining the suitability of questioned impressions for comparison and when forming opinions about the source of an impression. During training, minutiae are…
First impressions matter: Mundane obstacles to a forensic device for probabilistic reporting in fingerprint analysis
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Forensic Statistics,Latent Print
Published: 2025 | By: Simon Cole
This article investigates why statistical reasoning has had little impact on the practice of friction ridge (or ‘fingerprint’) examination, despite both interest and some modest scientific progress toward this goal. Previous research has attributed this lack of results to practitioner…
How signature complexity affects expert and lay ability to distinguish genuine, disguised and simulated signatures
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Handwriting
Published: 2024 | By: Nicholas Scurich
This study examined how variations in signature complexity affected the ability of forensic document examiners (FDEs) and laypeople to determine whether signatures are authentic or simulated (forged), as well as whether they are disguised. Forty-five FDEs from nine countries evaluated…
A Dirichlet process model for directional-linear data with application to bloodstain pattern analysis
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Bloodstain,Forensic Statistics
Published: 2024 | By: Tong Zou
Directional data require specialized models because of the non-Euclidean nature of their domain. When a directional variable is observed jointly with linear variables, modeling their dependence adds an additional layer of complexity. A Bayesian nonparametric approach is introduced to analyze…
A Quantitative Approach for Forensic Footwear Quality Assessment using Machine and Deep Learning
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Footwear,Forensic Statistics
Published: 2025 | By: Bismita Choudhury
Forensic footwear impressions play a crucial role in criminal investigations, assisting in possible suspect identification. The quality of an impression collected from a crime scene directly impacts the forensic information that can be garnered from any future comparison, which in…
Density-based matching rule: Optimality, estimation, and application in forensic problems
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Forensic Statistics
Published: 2024 | By: Lee, Hana
We consider matching problems where the goal is to determine whether two observations randomly drawn from a population with multiple (sub)groups are from the same (sub)group. This is a key question in forensic science, where items with unidentified origins from…
Misuse of statistical method results in highly biased interpretation of forensic evidence in Guyll et al. (2023)
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Forensic Statistics
Published: 2024 | By: Michael Rosenblum
Since the National Academy of Sciences released their report outlining paths for improving reliability, standards, and policies in the forensic sciences (NAS, 2009), there has been heightened interest in evaluating the scientific validity of forensic science disciplines. Guyll et al.…
Incorrect statistical reasoning in Guyll et al. leads to biased claims about strength of forensic evidence
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Forensic Statistics,Implementation and Practice
Published: 2024 | By: Michael Rosenblum
Guyll et al. (1) make an error in statistical reasoning that could lead judges and jurors in criminal trials to grossly misinterpret forensic evidence. Their error leads to highly inflated claims about the probability that a cartridge case from a…
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