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This Master of Science program brings together several key faculty from the University of California who have made substantial contributions to the field of forensic science and forensic medicine through their own disciplines in the sciences, medicine, engineering, law and psychology. Additional faculty are drawn from the California Criminalistics Institute, forensic consulting firms and public crime labs.
Ralph C. Aldredge, III, Ph.D., P.E., is a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering at UC Davis and a licensed professional engineer. He performs research investigations and consulting in areas relating to energy conversion, biotransport, failure analysis and accident reconstruction. He received Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton University in 1988 and 1990, respectively.
Matthew P. Augustine, Ph.D., is a Professor and a physical chemist and has been in the UC Davis Chemistry Department since 1998. He earned his Ph.D. from Yale University and did postdoctoral work at UC Berkeley. Professor Augustine received the National Science Foundation Career Award in 2000, developed and filmed "Chemistry of Everyday Life" for the Discovery Channel in 2003, developed Wine Scanner, Inc. to screen full bottles of wine for contaminants in 2004, received the ASUCD Excellence in Education Award in 2004, was a visiting research scientist at the Université de la Méditerranée Aix-Marseille from 2005-2008, and is active in the UC Davis-Peking University 10+10 program. Augustine's principal research interests include wine analysis, ion binding, luminescence, ultrasound, non-linear dynamics and solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR).
Ruth E. Ballard, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at California State University, Sacramento, adjunct professor in the Department of Environmental Toxicology at UC Davis and DNA/Biology advisor in the Forensic Science Graduate program. She teaches courses in genetics, human genetics and forensic biology at California State University, Sacramento, and teaches, FOR 281 (Principles and Practice of Forensic DNA Analysis) at UC Davis. Ballard developed and coordinates the concentration in Forensic Biology at CSU Sacramento and is the director of CSITRU (Crime Scene Investigation Training and Research for Undergraduates). She has developed several human STR allele frequency databases for world populations, including the populations of Tanzania, Laos and U.S. Assyrians, and is currently involved in a similar study in Kenya.
Christyann Darwent, Ph.D. is an associate professor of anthropology at UC Davis. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Missouri in 2001. She has had an interest in forensic anthropology since she was an undergraduate at the University of Calgary, Canada, where she focused on human skeletal remains. Her current work is in the High Arctic of Greenland and Alaska and she currently has two NSF-sponsored projects in these locations. Her own research focuses on animal bones and taphonomic analysis of those remains (i.e., what happens during the death, burial and recovery sequence). She uses this taphonomic information as a means of assessing climatic changes, prehistoric and historic human hunting and butchering of animals. She also oversees any human remains recovered in their archaeological excavations.
R. Michael Davis, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at UC Davis. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside in plant pathology. His major effort is in the area of fungal, bacterial and viral diseases of field and vegetable crops, especially tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, cucurbits, cotton and corn as well as mushroom production and diseases. He received the University of California Cooperative Extension Distinguished Service Award for Outstanding Research in 2006.
Katayoon (Katie) Dehesh, Ph.D., is a full professor in the Department of Plant Biology, College of Biological Sciences at UC Davis. She received her Ph.D. from Sussex University in Sussex, England. She pursued her postdoctoral research at the University of Freiburg, Germany; University of Kiel in Germany; University of Wisconsin, Madison; and University of California, Berkeley. Her postdoctoral research focused on plant photomorphongenesis with emphasis on dissection of the transcriptional machinery of light-regulated genes. Her current research is focused on unraveling the plant stress-signaling network. Specifically she is studying oxylipin mediated stress signaling pathway to examine the role of lipid derived metabolites in plant responses to biotic and abiotic challenges. In addition she is examining the parallels between the oxylipin metabolic pathways in plant and animals.
Jelmer W. Eerkens, Ph.D, is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at UC Davis. Eerkens earned his Master of Science and doctorate degrees in anthropology at UC Santa Barbara. His research interests concern the use of archaeometric methods to reconstruct behavior in ancient societies, including diet, mobility, trade and social organization. This work includes trace element analysis of artifacts to determine their source provenance, allowing the reconstruction of ancient trading networks and stable isotope analysis of human skeletal tissues, allowing the reconstruction of life history information for individuals, including dietary patterns and tracers of past migrations. His fieldwork has centered on the deserts of California and Nevada , though he has also worked in Peru and northwest Europe.
Holly Ernest, D.V.M., Ph.D., is associate professor-in-residence of Wildlife Population Health and Genetics. She directs the Wildlife and Ecological Genetics Unit at the UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory (VGL) which conducts research on genetics of threatened and endangered species. Genetic work applicable to forensic science in Ernest’s laboratory includes development of DNA marker panels (microsatellites, sex and species ID markers, etc.), databases, population genetics and statistical analysis techniques in collaboration with state and federal wildlife agencies. Ernest is a faculty member of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Population Health and Reproduction, as well as graduate groups in animal biology, avian science, ecology, epidemiology and genetics.
Walter E. Finkbeiner, M.D., Ph.D., received his M.D. from the University of Illinois (1978), and Ph.D. from UC San Francisco (1989). He completed training in anatomic pathology at UC San Francisco (1982) and forensic pathology at UC Davis (2001). He is currently professor and vice chair of the Department of Pathology, UC San Francisco, and chief of pathology at San Francisco General Hospital. His areas of research include airway cell biology, autopsy pathology and forensic pathology. Finkbeiner is co-author of Autopsy Pathology: A Manual and Atlas, Churchill Livingston: Philadelphia, 2004.
Paul Gepts, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, specializing in evolutionary factors that have shaped crop biodiversity during and after crop domestication. His research program attracts graduate students primarily from the U.S. and Latin America, but also from Africa and Asia through the Ecology, Genetics, Horticulture and Agronomy and International Agricultural Development Graduate Groups. The experimental work in his lab that is most applicable to forensics involves the development and use of molecular markers to distinguish among closely related genotypes within plant species. Gepts is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Agronomy and the Crop Science Society of America. He reads, speaks and writes fluently in four languages (French, Dutch, Spanish and English).
Gail S. Goodman, Ph.D., is a distinguished professor in the Department of Psychology at UC Davis. Her research specialties include memory development and children’s abilities and experiences as victims/witnesses (to provide testimony about events they have experienced or witnessed). She is also currently studying the effects of child abuse on emotional adjustment/psychopathology and relations between child maltreatment, re-victimization and juvenile delinquency. Her studies have been cited in U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Goodman has served as president of two divisions (Child, Youth and Family Services; and Psychology and Law) and one section (Child Maltreatment) of the American Psychological Association. She has received numerous grants and awards for her research. Goodman is also director of the Center for Public Policy Research at UC Davis.
William M. Green, M.D., has been on the faculty of the University of California, Davis, Medical School since 1976; he retired in July 2011 as Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine. Green is one of the founding faculty members of the Graduate Group in Forensic Science that created the Forensic Science Masters Program at UC Davis. His primary research interest is sexual assault, which includes the epidemiology of sexual assault, the forensic medical examination, forensic evidence collection and evaluation, the delivery of sexual assault services, and criminal justice outcomes. In 1989, Green was one of the founders of the Sexual Assault Forensic Evaluation (SAFE) Team at the UC Davis Medical Center and served as the team's medical director from 1989 until 2010. In the mid 1990s, Green worked with the core advisory group that helped draft the legislation that ultimately created the California Clinical Forensic Medical Training Center (CCFMTC). He has served as CCFMTC's director of Sexual Assault Forensic Education, Policy and Research Development and since 2009 has served as medical director. In addition, Green was asked to serve as advisor to the U.S. Department of Justice and the White House on sexual assault matters.
David Howitt, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at UC Davis. He received his Ph.D. degree at UC Berkeley. His areas of research emphasis include forensics and failure analysis, electron microscopy and the determination of structure property relationships in materials.
You-Lo Hsieh, Ph.D., is chair and a professor in the Division of Textiles and Clothing at UC Davis, specializing in fiber and polymer science. Her research focuses on fiber and polymer chemistry, with active projects related to fiber chemistry and structure (natural and synthesized), functional fibers and membranes (nanofibers, nanoporous), polymer synthesis and chemistry (bio-based, stimuli-responsive, functional), encapsulation of biomolecules (proteins, enzymes, sugars, chemicals, etc), and conversion and utilization of bio-based materials and renewable natural products.
Edward J. Imwinkelried is the Edward L. Barrett Jr. Professor of Law at UC Davis. He is the co-author of Scientific Evidence (4th ed. 2007) and the author of The Methods of Attacking Scientific Evidence (4th ed. 2004). He is the expert testimony columnist for National Law Journal and a contributing editor on forensic science for Criminal Law Bulletin. Imwinkelried was a member of the Legal Issues Working Group of the National Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence and served as the legal consultant to the Surgeon General’s Commission on urinalysis testing in the Armed Forces. He is currently a member of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s expert group on human factors in latent fingerprint analysis.
Sree Kanthaswamy, Ph.D., is an associate adjunct professor, Department of Environmental Toxicology and the UC Davis California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC). His NIH-funded projects include the genetic management of the CNPRC's non-human primate colony. He also heads an NIJ-funded grant on the development of a species determination assay for law enforcement forensic labs in the U.S.
Robert B. Kimsey, Ph.D., is an associate adjunct professor of entomology investigating epidemiology of tick-borne Zoonoses in Northern California. He received his Ph.D. in entomology at UC Davis in 1984 and then conducted postdoctoral research in that department. In 1987 he joined the Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Tropical Public Health as a research associate. Kimsey was a visiting lecturer in parasitology in the School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University during this period. He teaches a graduate-level seminar in forensic entomology at UC Davis and continues to consult for law enforcement as well as law firms.
Donald P. Land, Ph.D., has been a professor in the Department of Chemistry at UC Davis since 1991. He served as an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow (1990-1991). His specialty is analytical and physical chemistry studies of solids and surfaces with applications in biology, medicine, catalysis and the environment. Land uses microscopy, spectroscopy, lasers and mass spectrometry to analyze solids and surfaces to study trace evidence and to elucidate the relationship between structure and function in surface chemistry, often using custom-designed instrumentation. His forensic applications include the study of soot composition, elemental analysis of glass fragments and GC/MS studies of clandestine lab materials.
Leslie A. Lyons, Ph.D., is a geneticist and associate professor in the Department of Population Health and Reproduction in the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis. She received her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health, Department of Human Genetics. The laboratory has the capacity for high throughput DNA amplification, DNA sequencing, DNA polymorphism and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) detection. Current forensic projects include the development of markers and databases for mtDNA, microsatellites and phenotypic-associated SNPs for identification of feline crime scene evidence.
Alyson Mitchell, Ph.D., is an associate professor and food chemist in the Department of Food Science and Technology at UC Davis where she received her Ph.D. degree. Her interests are application of HPLC and LC/MS/MS in the identification and occurrence of phytochemicals and their metabolites in foods and biological matrices.
Terence M. Murphy, Ph.D., is a professor in the UC Davis Department of Plant Biology. Murphy received his Ph.D. in cell biology at UC San Diego. He studies effects of abiotic stresses on the biochemistry and physiology of plant cells. His areas of interest have included membrane transport, formation and removal of reactive oxidizing agents and DNA repair. He has applied his experience to the identification and comparison of plant samples through DNA sequence analysis.
Edward A. Panacek, M.D., M.P.H., is a professor of Emergency Medicine at the UC Davis Medical Center and the associate editor of the Journal of Emergency Medicine. He received his M.D. degree from the University of South Alabama. He holds board certification in Emergency Medicine, Internal Medicine and Critical Care Medicine. His research interests, relevant to the forensic sciences, include medical aspects of violence and injury— specifically, sexual assault and injury prevention. He is the chair of a multidisciplinary research group at UC Davis Medical Center, called SARG (Sexual Assault Research Group). He is also a founding member of a nascent California based, multi-institutional SARG, that is just beginning.
Sean Peisert, Ph.D., is jointly appointed as an assistant adjunct professor in the Department of Computer Science at UC Davis and as a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He performs research in computer security and is particularly interested in forensic analysis, intrusion detection, the insider threat, security policy modeling, and empirical studies of security. He is also particularly interested in the application of computer security to areas including electronic voting, the smart grid, cyber-physical systems, cloud computing and supercomputing. Previously, he was an I3P Research Fellow at UC Davis and was a computer security researcher at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC). He received his Ph.D., Masters and Bachelor's degrees in Computer Science from UC San Diego. He is also a faculty member in the Graduate Groups in Computer Science and Health Informatics.
Birgit Puschner, Ph.D., is a professor of clinical veterinary toxicology at UC Davis. She received her PhD. from Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München, Germany. She is a diplomat of the American Board of Veterinary Toxicology. Her interests are in the investigation, review and interpretation of all toxicology case submissions in light of clinical, clinicopathological and pathological findings. This includes the continuous improvement and development of diagnostic capabilities such as method development. Specific areas of expertise are: investigation of intoxication of animals, development of new diagnostic tools to confirm intoxications and assessment of potential food safety concerns, including bio/agro terrorism.
Bahram Ravani, Ph.D., is a professor of mechanical and aero engineering and chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UC Davis. He received his M.S. from Columbia University in New York and his Ph.D. from Stanford University, both in mechanical engineering. His research areas include forensic biomechanics, forensic evaluation and analysis of injury accidents and accident reconstruction. He also specializes in kinematics and dynamics, mechanical design and robotics. Ravani uses the science bases of kinematics, dynamics and biomechanical engineering in forensic evaluation of accidents and injuries which includes multidisciplinary investigation of traffic, industrial and other injury accidents. He has been involved in research, investigation and analysis of many accidents evaluating causation and accident reconstruction.
Robert H. Rice, Ph.D., serves as chair of the Forensic Science Graduate Group at UC Davis and a professor and faculty adviser for the Department of Environmental Toxicology. His areas of emphasis include mechanisms of action of toxic and physiological agents affecting keratinocyte growth and differentiation, biochemistry and expression of specific keratinocyte markers, metabolic activation of toxic agents in epidermal cells, and proteomics of epidermis and appendages. He is also a member of the UC Davis Graduate Groups in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Cell and Developmental Biology, and Pharmacology and Toxicology.
William Ristenpart, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and the Department of Food Science and Technology at UC Davis. His research area of interest is the behavior of electrofluids, biofluids and microfluids. He received his undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from UC Davis, and his Ph.D. from Princeton University. He did his postdoctoral research at Harvard University. Recently, he received a National Institute of Justice (NIJ) grant in the area of bloodstain pattern interpretation. This NIJ grant will focus on using ultra-high-speed video and the mathematical analysis of blood drop dispersion in order to elucidate the effect of velocity and distance.
Moshe Rosenberg, D.Sc., is a professor and specialist in the Department of Food Science and Technology at UC Davis. He received his M.Sc. and D.Sc. degrees in food engineering and biotechnology from Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. His research focuses on developing a new understanding about physio-chemical and microencapsulating properties of proteins, lipids and carbohydrates, and on developing advanced, highly functional delivery systems for nutrients and bioactive compounds. His research is also aimed at gaining a better understanding about physio-chemical principles that govern milk processibility, functionality of milk constituents and the development of quality attributes of cheese and other dairy products.
Ben Sacks, Ph.D., is a geneticist, assistant professor in the Department of Population Health and Reproduction, and director of the Canid Diversity and Conservation Laboratory in the Center for Veterinary Genetics at UC Davis. He conducts genetic research on domestic dogs and wildlife populations, including threatened and endangered carnivores. The laboratory has facilities for DNA extraction, PCR, sequencing and genotyping. Projects include development of autosomal and Y-chromosome STR and SNP markers and population-specific databases for genetic assignments.
Brandi Schmitt, M.S., is the director of Anatomical Services for the University of California Office of the President. Her role at UCOP includes management of the university system’s five whole-body donation programs, setting ethical guidelines for the acquisition, use and disposition of anatomical materials used for education and research, as well as ensuring compliance with university policies. Schmitt’s academic interests include institutional whole-body donation programs, multidisciplinary human identifications and mass fatality management and response, as well as the facilitation of clinical, surgical and forensic research and education.
George Sensabaugh, D.Crim., is a professor of forensic science and biomedical sciences in the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley. He received his doctorate degree from the School of Criminology at UC Berkeley and has taught and conducted research in forensic science for more than 30 years. His main forensic research interests are in the area of forensic biology, ranging from analysis and interpretation of biological evidence to novel applications of DNA technology. He has a longstanding interest in developing the foundations of forensic science as a professional endeavor. Other research interests include biochemical genetics, molecular epidemiology and the molecular evolution of microbes.
Takayuki Shibamoto, Ph.D., is a professor in environmental toxicology at UC Davis. He received his Ph.D. in agricultural chemistry from UC Davis. His research areas include the study of antioxidative properties of components in natural plants including antioxidative activities of aroma chemicals; and the Maillard reaction or nonenzymatic browning reaction associated with formation of antioxidants, carcinogens and anticarcinogens in food. He has studied the analysis of volatile chemicals using expertise of capillary gas chromatography, including natural plant essences and wine chemistry. Shibamoto has also conducted research on analytical methods for certain pesticides, degradation of pesticides in food and environment, and seasonal variation of pesticide residues in surface water.
David Glenn Smith, Ph.D., is a professor of anthropology and a core scientist at the California National Primate Research Center. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Colorado, Boulder and pursued postdoctoral research in human genetic epidemiology at the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Michigan Medical School and at the Institute for Cancer Research of the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. Current interests include the evolution and phylogeography of the primate genus Macaca, the structure of the genomes of rhesus and longtail macaques with particular reference to studies of linkage and disease association, genetic evidence for circumstances pertaining to the human settlement of the New World, and the use of both modern and ancient DNA of Native Americans to assess ancestor descendant relationships and evidence of population replacement, migration and gene flow.
Faye Springer worked as a criminalist with the California Department of Justice in the Riverside and the Sacramento laboratories. In 1996, she accepted a position with the Sacramento County Forensic Laboratory where she is the technical leader of the trace evidence laboratory. Springer has worked more than 1,000 homicide cases including some of the most notable serial murderers in California. She was the subcommittee chairperson of the National Scientific Working Group on Materials (SWGMAT) developing national standards for analysis and training. She is best known for her work in the area of trace evidence and crime scene investigation.
Scott D. Stanley, Ph.D., is an associate professor of equine chemistry and director of the K.L. Maddy Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory, UC Davis. Under his leadership, the laboratory has established itself as one of the largest and most respected LC-MS equine drug-testing labs in the world. Stanley is a recognized leader in the field of mass spectrometry (MS) and LC-MS. His primary research interest includes trace analytical determinations of drugs, metabolites and natural products in the biological samples. He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals. Stanley received his Ph.D. in toxicology from the University of Kentucky.
Ronald S. Tjeerdema, Ph.D., D.A.B.T., is professor and chair of the Department of Environmental Toxicology. He received a Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology from UC Davis in 1987, and then served on the faculty of the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at UC Santa Cruz before returning to UC Davis in 1999. His research is focused on characterizing toxic actions via in vivo NMR and NMR-based metabolomics and the fate of pesticides and petroleum hydrocarbons in the environment.
John Thornton, D.Crim., is an emeritus professor of forensic science at UC Berkeley. After working in the Air Force as a medic, he worked for nine years in the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Department crime lab as a criminalist, several years as the supervising criminalist and a one year as the laboratory director. Thornton then served as a professor at UC Berkeley for 24 years. In addition, he has served as president of the California Association of Criminalists and as chairman of the Criminalistics section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. He is the author of 194 published articles and has taught physical evidence methods in Spain, China, Colombia, Israel, Mexico and India. He has processed crime scenes throughout the U.S. including about 800 homicide cases over a period of 47 years. He is currently semi-retired, working as a crime scene investigator for the Napa County Sheriff’s Department.
Fred Tulleners, M.A., received his graduate degree in chemistry from UC Irvine. He is the director of forensic science at UC Davis Extension and is responsible for the administration of the UC Davis Master of Science in Forensic Science program. He is a former California Department of Justice laboratory director of the California Criminalistics Institute and the ASCLD accredited Sacramento- Santa Rosa Criminalistics laboratories. His areas of interest are the statistical aspects of firearms identification, the performance of national ballistic imaging databases and forensic alcohol issues.
Cecilia von Beroldingen, Ph.D., received her Ph.D. in biology from the University of Oregon in 1978. She did postdoctoral research in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Oregon State University and in the Division of Cellular Biology at the Scripps Research Institute. She was a research associate in the Forensic Science Program at UC Berkeley, investigating the application of PCR to the analysis of biological evidence. Von Beroldingen has also served as the technical leader of the DNA section of the Oregon State Police Forensic Laboratory. She joined the California Department of Justice DNA Laboratory in 2001 and is now the director of the California Criminalistics Institute.
Timothy D. Weaver, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of anthropology. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University and pursued postdoctoral research at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. His research focuses on making inferences from human skeletal remains. Current interests include cranial and postcranial evolution of Neanderthals and modern humans, understanding present-day human cranial diversity, and sub-adult age estimation from the postcranial skeleton. He uses a variety of approaches, including 3-D geometric morphometrics, interactive computer visualization, biomechanics, and theoretical models from quantitative and population genetics.
Matthew Wood, Ph.D. is an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Toxicology at UC Davis. He received his degree from UC San Diego. His research program centers on investigating how oxidants and oxidative stress are perceived by organisms and regulate biological processes through oxidation and reduction of proteins. An American Heart Association Beginning Researcher Grant funds his research efforts. At the graduate level he teaches the popular ETX 220, Analysis of Toxicants course every fall.