Dear ASCLD Colleagues and Friends,
Last week I had mentioned that a cadre of ASCLD BOD folks were heading to Austin. From June 5th-7th, our small team met in Austin to kick-off the planning sessions for the next Symposium. We packed in quite a lot in those few days, and I was just exhausted, but we got so much done and came away with so many great plans for the next symposium. We are thrilled to be working on this next event and to celebrate 50 years of ASCLD meetings. As I stated last week, mark your calendar for April 30 – May 5, 2023. We will be continuing on the tradition of building our strong relationships and learning from each other at the Renaissance Hotel in Austin. Enjoy some of the images of the spaces!
Don’t forget to sign up for those Lightening Talks I mentioned last week. The ASCLD Forensic Research Committee has been doing a fantastic job of consistently rolling out awesome content which highlight new and emerging research across all areas of forensic science. We have two coming up, so make sure to register and get them on your calendar:
Topic: Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry
Date: Thursday June 23rd at 1:00pm EST
Speakers: Glen Jackson from West Virginia University, David Morello from the Drug Enforcement Administration, and Bob Wright from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Topic: Microbial DNA
Date: Thursday July 14th at 1:00pm EST
Speakers: Noemi Procopio from Northumbria University, Harinder Singh from the J. Craig Venter Institute, and Sarah Seashols-Williams from Virginia Commonwealth University
I was recently discussing one of our many large projects we are working on in my organization and was quickly reminded at how much I have leaned on friends I have met as an ASCLD member. Our ASCLD members have much to offer each other- I have learned so much and appreciate all the wisdom from our leaders across the country. I urge you to continue encouraging your management/leadership co-workers, colleagues, and friends in our field to pursue membership to ASCLD. If you have any questions, please reach out to our Membership Chair, Director Tate Yeatman: yeatmand@pbso.org.
Recently, an ASCLD colleague reached out to me regarding our DEI efforts (I still owe you an email, my friend, I did not forget), and it was timely as our organization had just hired two
SWISDIP interns. So, you may be asking: “what is SWISDIP?”. In our state, our organization was invited to participate in the 2022 State of Wisconsin Diversity Internship Program (SWISDIP) which is a paid summer internship program that provides students an opportunity to explore different careers based on their unique interests, and provides practical, on-the-job work experience and training in a professional work environment within state government. The program is designed to advance career goals and skills while providing an understanding of various agencies of state government. Our Division of Forensic Science had the opportunity to hire two wonderful folks to assist us with Forensic Case Management and with our creative pursuits (our publicly available Day in the Life videos).
Do you have some programs in your state or jurisdiction that could assist you in not only your DEI efforts but also provide you with some much-needed help while providing mentorship for students? If so, I encourage you to pursue them. It is only week one for us, but I can already tell we have some dynamite interns!
Well, I had better scoot- we have baseball this weekend and I had the opportunity to watch my son get his first homerun last night. I am hoping he has another great day on the field. Until next time!
In your service,
Jen
Jennifer D. Naugle
ASCLD President
