Alicia Carriquiry, director of the Center for Statistics and Applications in Forensic Evidence (CSAFE), will give a Medallion Lecture Aug. 7 at 2 p.m. during the 2024 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM). JSM will be held Aug. 3-8 in Portland, Oregon.
In her talk, titled “Challenging Problems, Messy Data: Building the Statistical Framework for the Analysis of Patterns in Forensic Applications,” Carriquiry will discuss the application of statistics in forensic science and the criminal justice system.
She will introduce some of the recently proposed statistical and algorithmic methods that could potentially impact forensic practice in the United States. Some of this research is mature enough to undergo pilot testing at crime labs, although no new technology has yet been implemented in actual casework.
Carriquiry will provide two examples to illustrate her point: the analysis of questioned handwritten documents and of marks imparted by firearms on bullets or cartridge cases. In both examples, the question addressed is the question of source: do two or more items have the same source? In the first case, “traditional” statistical modeling methods are applied. In the second case, algorithmic approaches are used to quantify the similarity between two items, followed by a statistical test for the hypothesis of the same source.
Additional CSAFE researchers will also present research related to forensics at JSM. Here is the list of those presentations:
STUDENT PAPER AWARD
A Reproducible Pipeline for Extracting Representative Signals from Wire Cuts
Aug. 5, 2-3:50 p.m.
Speaker: Yuhang Lin, Iowa State University
Co-author: Heike Hofmann, Iowa State University
Read more about Lin’s student paper award.
CONTRIBUTED PAPERS
Sequential Notepad Analysis in Transcript Studies
Aug. 4, 4-5:50 p.m.
Presenting Author: Rachel Rogers, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Co-Author: Susan Vanderplas, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Incorporating Inconclusive Outcomes in Error Rate Estimation with Applications in Forensic Science
Aug. 6, 10:30 a.m.-12:20 p.m.
Presenting Author: Sydney Campbell, University of Virginia
Co-Authors: Karen Kafadar and Jordan Rodu, University of Virginia
TOPIC-CONTRIBUTED PAPER SESSION
Interpretable Classification and Communication in Forensic Nursing
Aug. 7, 10:30 a.m.-12:20 p.m.
Speaker: Karen Kafadar, University of Virginia
Co-authors: Jordan Rodu and Kathryn Laughon, University of Virginia
JSM is one of the largest statistical events in the world, offering an opportunity for statistics in academia, industry and government to exchange ideas and explore opportunities for collaboration. This year’s theme is “Statistics and Data Science: Informing Policy and Countering Misinformation” and will feature invited and contributed technical sessions, poster presentations and other activities. For more information, visit https://ww2.amstat.org/meetings/jsm/2024/.
