Emerging Forensic Scientist Award Winner

Heidi Nawrocki is the 2009 Recipient of the Emerging Forensic Scientist Award. She is a master’s student in chemistry at West Virginia University. The Emerging Forensic Scientist Award is presented by the Forensic Sciences Foundation, which is the educational, scientific, and research arm of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. This award is given to the author with the best paper based on a variety of topics that focus on the reliability and validity of techniques, processes, or methods in a forensic area of the author’s choice. As the award recipient, Heidi is entitled to an all expense paid trip to the Denver AAFS 2009 meeting, which includes hotel, registration, airfare, and per diem.

Heidi’s winning research project is “Discrimination of Glass by Cathodoluminescence, Color Analysis, and Chemometrics.” Her project consists of glass characterization via cathodoluminescence (CL) and color analysis. Glass is a colorless material, but under an electron beam, it luminesces in the visible range. Using CL spectra, she has been able to assign a color to the glass she has analyzed. Heidi’s award-winning research is funded by the WVU Forensic Science Initiative.

When asked what the award meant to her, Heidi said, “I am quite proud to be the first from WVU to win this award. I am glad that we were able to contribute a new idea to the field of forensic science. I hope this award will be useful for me in the future when I pursue a career!”