For release: November 8 , 2007

Contacts: 
David Baldwin, Midwest Forensics Resource
  Center, (515) 294-2069
Saren Johnston , Public Affairs, (515) 294-3474

AMES LAB’S MIDWEST FORENSICS RESOURCE CENTER
A PARTNER IN THE FORENSIC TECHNOLOGY
CENTER OF EXCELLENCE

AMES, Iowa – The Midwest Forensics Resource Center (MFRC) at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, is a partner in the newly formed Forensic Technology Center of Excellence that will be headquartered at the National Forensic Science Technology Center (NFSTC) located at the Young-Rainey STAR center in Largo, Fla.  The NFSTC received a $6 million cooperative agreement awarded by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to form and administer the newly created Center.

The competitively awarded cooperative agreement is the result of the combined efforts of the five partners making up the Forensic Technology Center of Excellence who successfully submitted the peer-reviewed proposal.  In addition to the NFSTC and the Ames Laboratory’s MFRC, the Center’s partners include:  Stetson College of Law’s National Clearinghouse for Science, Technology and the Law, Gulfport, Fla; the University of Central Florida’s National Center for Forensic Science, Orlando, Fla.; and Marshall University’s Forensic Science Center, Huntington, W. Va.  Each partner is responsible for a specific project in support of the Center’s objectives.   

The Forensic Technology Center of Excellence is one of four Technology Centers of Excellence created by the OJP.  All Centers will work within the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) system to provide testing, evaluation, technology assistance programs and other tools and technologies that support the efforts of law enforcement and other criminal justice agencies.  Each Center will also support numerous OJP research and development initiatives specifically related to forensic science and technology.

According to David Baldwin, MFRC director at Ames Laboratory, the MFRC will receive approximately $500,000 as a partner in the Forensic Technology Center of Excellence to support two projects, in particular.  He said one project targets the effective use of process-mapping tools for process improvement, a topic of great interest in the forensic science community over the last few years. 

“Process mapping is a system that looks at work processes in terms of inputs and outputs – how to implement procedures to achieve a specific outcome,” Baldwin explained.  The project expands on a prior MFRC undertaking that examined the use of trained crime laboratory staff to provide process-mapping services to other laboratories in a mutually supporting network.

The restructured process-mapping project will:

• Expand the network of peer organizations to a national scope
• Create a framework for scheduling and sharing resources
• Standardize work product and procedures
• Refine the processes for selecting and carrying out mapping projects

A second project the MFRC will be assuming as a partner in the Forensic Technology Center of Excellence is one to identify, recruit and retain scientific staff.  Crime laboratories report the need to improve in this area due to the considerable disruption caused by loss of key personnel in a profession that is already short-staffed.      

In addressing these issues, the MFRC plans to examine the selection process and the related matter of retaining scientific staff through a job analysis activity that includes, among other items, a full description of the knowledge, skills and abilities required for various scientific positions, as well as identification of the relevant training and education of successful incumbents.     

Baldwin said the primary objective of the MFRC and the other partners making up the Forensic Technology Center of Excellence is to aid the National Institute of Justice in its mission of research and development in support of the law-enforcement community.   “We’re excited to have this opportunity,” he said.  “This is the first competitive grant that the MFRC has been awarded for the operation of what we do.  It’s a validation of our model that has been recognized as excellent.”

Ames Laboratory, celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2007, is operated for the Department of Energy by Iowa State University. The Lab conducts research into various areas of national concern, including the synthesis and study of new materials, energy resources, high-speed computer design, and environmental cleanup and restoration.

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