Find out how NC State is transforming forensic science.

You won’t usually find our faculty featured on the latest edition of COPS, but the university is increasingly becoming the scourge of those who break the law and a source of hope for those unjustly accused. Our security and safety is due in part to our ability to prosecute criminals by applying rigorous science and engineering concepts to the law. This is forensic science, a field that is fascinating to scientists and non-scientists alike—and to almost anyone who watches much television these days. It is a discipline critical to ensuring security, safety and a just society. And a discipline that our textiles, engineering, computer science, and microbiology faculty are transforming.

Can you name a discipline that spans textiles, anthropology, entomology, archaeology, chemistry, statistics, computer science and visualization, data mining and library science, material science, toxicology, botany, microbiology, biology, physics, geology, psychology, linguistics, mechanical and civil engineering, and environmental science? Renowned experts at NC State in all these fields–representing all colleges–are increasingly applying their expertise to advancing the field of forensics, ultimately through a rigorous new Forensic Sciences Institute (FSI) here at the university.

Find out more on November 3 at the annual fall luncheon sponsored by the NCSU Friends of the Library, where Professor David Hinks from the Department of Textile Engineering Chemistry and Science will talk about NC State’s synergistic approach to the art. Hinks will tell us about the initiative to pull together transformative cross-functional teams in the research and development of scientifically rigorous methods to advance the field of forensics as a post-disciplinary science.

Learn, for instance, how NCSU’s Textiles Library has become a threat to the bad guys with our unique collection of almost all automotive fabric samples from domestic and imported cars from 1955 to 2006. While one might think this collection might be of interest to only a few automotive and textile designers, it is fascinating to federal and SBI crime investigators. Many crimes involve cars, and fibers become key evidence in criminal investigations more often than DNA evidence. NCSU is developing an unprecedented analytical database of dyed fibers for use in forensic investigations based on this library collection.

Event Details:
Tuesday, November 3, noon-1:30 p.m.
NC State’s McKimmon Center
$18 for Friends of the Library members; $25 for the general public
Reservations or questions:(919)515-2841 or friends_of_the_library@ncsu.edu. This event is part of the ongoing NCSU Libraries Fabulous Faculty Series. The Friends of the Library is part of the NCSU Foundation.