The Organization of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Science (OSAC) Statistics Task Group (STG) invites graduate students to become student affiliate members. The opportunity is open to any graduate student studying statistics and interested in forensic science.
The STG provides a statistician’s perspective for the OSAC discipline-specific subcommittees. Task group members work together to submit comments on forensic standards, technical publications, definitions and other OSAC documents, emphasizing the statistical issues related to forensic science results.
Joining the STG as a student affiliate member is free and gives students the opportunity to work closely with forensic scientists. Students will review proposed forensic science standards and learn how statistics can help forensic scientists in daily casework.
“The STG Student Affiliate Group provides statistics students with a unique opportunity to be involved in the cutting-edge techniques under development for forensic science and provides them with real-world experience in helping to ensure that these new methodologies are statistically sound,” said Danica Ommen, chair of the OSAC STG and assistant professor in statistics at Iowa State University.
Interested graduate students can complete an application form at https://www.nist.gov/form/osac-application-form. On the form, students should do the following:
- Explain your interests or experience in forensic statistics applications in the “Summary of Expertise” section.
- Select “Statistics” in the “Area of Expertise” section.
- Select “Interdisciplinary” under the “What level of the OSAC interests you as a volunteer” section.
- Upload a CV or resume.
Additional information about becoming a student affiliate member can be found at https://forensicstats.org/learning/students/ or contact Ommen at danica.ommen@gmail.com.
