Dear ASCLD Colleagues,
 
Celebrate us! It is National Forensic Science Week! This is a great time for Laboratory Directors to highlight the hard work of Forensic Science Professionals across that nation and even the world. Whether they do research, lab work, casework, evidence handling, crime scenes, investigations, administration, support, or quality assurance, they are in the spotlight this week. Take a moment to thank them for all they do. We also thank all of the companies/vendors, educational entities, government, and funding entities that participate with us and make us successful. The partnerships we have forged with these entities are critical to our successes. I hope you will all use the Twitter @ForSciWeek and the Facebook “National Forensic Science Week” page with #ascldfun to advertise all the great events you are doing this week to raise the level of awareness of forensic science issues and recognize your employees.

The various ASCLD committees are beginning activity with the new Board year. If you would like to volunteer for any of the committees, feel free to reach out to me or Executive Director, John Byrd, to get signed up. My experience working in the committees over the years has given me a broader perspective of my own profession for which I have worked for over 32 years. I have learned things from the committees each year and made some new friends, too! If you have a research project idea and want to collaborate with a school to make it happen, check out the Forensic Research Committee’s offering to facilitate those connections. Here is the list of Committees: Advocacy, Communications, Ethics & By-Laws, Finance, Forensic Research, International Committee, Member Resource, Membership, Nominating & Awards, Sponsorship, Standards & Accreditation Initiatives, Symposium Planning, Training & Education. Also, the Rapid DNA for Disaster Victim Identification (Rapid DNA-DVI) Task Group is going to re-form and looking for members.

So many opportunities to volunteer and play an active role in ASCLD.

I hope you have a great week and I look forward to seeing your social media posts for National Forensic Science Week!


Laura
 
Laura Sudkamp
ASCLD President