Forensics@NIST 2014

December 3rd and 4th, 2014

December 3, 2014

8:30 am – 8:45 am Welcome – Dr. Willie May; Acting Director, NIST

Moderator – Ms. Sue Ballou; Manager, Forensic Science Research 

Program

8:45 am – 9:15 am Keynote

JED S. RAKOFF

US District Court, Southern District of New York

“Are Judges Losing Confidence in Forensic Science?"

The honorable Judge Rakoff has served since March, 1996 as a United States District 

Judge for the Southern District of New York. Judge Rakoff also holds the position of 

Adjunct Professor at Columbia Law School, where he teaches courses in white collar 

crime, science and the law, class actions, and the interplay of civil and criminal law. He has 

co-authored five books and written over 125 published articles.

9:15 am – 12:35 pm Biometrics/Computer Forensics

9:15 am – 9:30 am Introduction: Eoghan Casey

Lead Cyber Security Engineer 

The MITRE Corporation

9:30 am – 9:45 am Program Overview: Barbara Guttman

Overview of Computer Forensics and Forensic Biometrics at NIST including an overview 

of the focus area and summary of accomplishments
Technical Program:

9:45 am – 10:00 am Doug White “National Software Reference Library (NSRL)”

The NSRL has been providing reference data since 2001. New areas of software collection 

include mobile device apps, historic software, and live updates. The NSRL is also providing a 

research base for new types of software identification.

10:00 am – 10:15 am BREAK

Tours – individuals signed up for the tours please go to the registration booth. Your bus 

will depart or your walking venture will commence at 10:15 am.

10:15 am – 10:35 am Mary Laamanen and Alex Nelson “NSRL Next Generation –

Diskprinting”

The NSRL has focused on software as delivered. Diskprinting looks at software as installed. As 

software in installed, used and uninstalled, it leaves traces across the system, including changes 

to the registry, to memory, and to network traffic. 

10:35 am – 10:55 am Jim Lyle “Computer Forensics Tool Testing (CFTT)”

Update on recent key accomplishments of the CFTT program in deleted file recovery and file 

carving and a look to the future for work on memory analysis.

10:55 am – 11:15am Rick Ayers “CFTT - Mobile Forensics”

NIST recently released Special Publication 800-101 Rev 1. Guidelines on Mobile Device 

Forensics and has started a new round of mobile devices forensic testing with greater emphasis 

on smart phones and tablets. 

11:15 am – 11:35 am Ben Livelsberger “CFTT - Federated Testing”

It is not feasible for the Computer Forensics Tool Testing (CFTT) project to test every digital 

forensics tool used by law enforcement, much less every version. Federated Testing expands 

CFTT to provide law enforcement with test materials, methodologies, and report formats to 

validate tools themselves and share the results. 

11:35 am – 12:00 pm Mike Garris “Biometrics Overview”

NIST has decades of experience and impact in the innovation, evaluation, and standardization of 

Biometric pattern matching technologies. This talk will provide an overview of how this work is 

relevant to the science of forensic patterns.

12:00 pm – 12:25 pm Elham Tabassi “Latent Fingerprints”

This talk will provide an overview of Statistical Friction Ridge Analysis, which is a new project 

at NIST. The project aims to develop a statistical measure of the uncertainty of the decisions 

made on the friction ridge evidence (i.e., evidential value of fingerprint comparison). We will 

present the motivation, scope, technical plan and progress so far.

12:25 pm – 12:35 pm Q&A

12:35 pm – 1:30 pm LUNCH on your own

1:30 pm – 5:00 pm DNA

1:30 pm – 1:45 pm Introduction: Jennifer G. Breaux

DNA Technical Leader 
Montgomery County Crime Laboratory, Rockville MD

1:45 pm – 2:00 pm Program overview: Peter Vallone

Overview of Forensic Genetics at NIST

Technical Program:

2:00 pm – 2:25 pm Becky Steffen “Update on NIST SRM 2391c PCR-based DNA Profiling 

Standard” 

The U.S. is in the process of adding more Short Tandem Repeat markers (STR) to the current 

core set of 13 CODIS loci. In parallel, NIST is updating the SRM 2391c to include the new 

candidate STR loci, new Y STR loci found in commercial kits and providing full sequence 

information on the markers to support next generation sequencing platforms.

2:25 pm – 2:50 pm Mike Coble “Complex DNA Mixture Interpretation”

Complex mixtures of two or more contributors can be difficult for the forensic scientist to 

interpret. In 2010, the SWGDAM published Autosomal STR Interpretation Guidelines to provide 

guidance for labs to establish thresholds for mixture interpretation. In 2013, NIST conducted an 

interlaboratory study (MIX13) to gauge the consistency in mixture interpretation across the U.S. 

2:50 pm – 3:15 pm Margaret Kline “The Use of Digital PCR for SRM Characterization”

The current DNA Quantitation Standard (SRM 2372) has been characterized by UV absorbance 

methods. In the next 2 years SRM 2372 will be superseded with a new material. The candidate 

SRM 2372a will be characterized for copy number using the technique of digital PCR (dPCR). 

dPCR allows for a count of PCR targets in the human genome allowing for a direct 

determination of DNA copy number.

3:15 pm – 3:30 pm BREAK

Tours – individuals signed up for the tours please go to the registration booth. Your bus 

will depart or your walking venture will commence at 3:30 pm.

3:30 pm – 3:55 pm Erica Butts “Rapid DNA Typing and PCR Protocols”

Rapid PCR protocols decrease DNA amplification times from 3 hours down to 15 minutes. 

Fully integrated rapid DNA typing instruments employ rapid PCR methods and can type a 

reference sample (buccal cells in a swab) in approximately 90 minutes. Results from laboratory 

and integrated rapid typing methods will be presented. 

3:55 pm – 4:20 pm Kevin Kiesler “Typing SNPs with Next-Generation Sequencing” 

The advent of next generation sequencing has provided an instrumental platform for multiplex 

typing of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). SNP markers can be used for human identity 

testing application such as one-to-one matching, estimation of biogeographical ancestry and 

externally visible traits such as eye/hair color.

4:20 pm – 4:45 pm Katherine Gettings “Sequencing STRs: Variation and Nomenclature” 

The ability to fully sequence short tandem repeats (STRs) has the potential to unlock more 

information contained within the markers compared to traditional PCR fragment-based methods 

(e.g. capillary electrophoresis). The results of typing a subset of NIST population samples will be 

used to illustrate the benefits of new sequencing methods.

4:45 pm – 5:00 pm Q&A

5:00 pm Closing Remarks
December 4, 2014

8:30 am – 8:45 am Welcome – Sue Ballou

8:45 am – 12:30 pm Ballistics/Toolmarks

8:45am – 9:00 am Introduction: John Murdock

Contra Costa Sheriff’s Forensic Services Division

Martinez, CA 

9:00 am – 9:15 am Program overview: Rick Silver

Firearm and Toolmark Forensics: A Program Overview

Technical Program:

9:15 am – 9:40 am Robert Thompson “Congruent Matching Cells (CMC)—Theory and 

Application in Firearm Evidence Identification”

The Congruent Matching Cells (CMC) method was invented at NIST for accurate ballistic 

identifications. The measured forensic topographies are divided into correlation cells. Three sets 

of identification parameters are devised for identifying correlated cell pairs originating from the 

same firearm. Initial validation tests on 780 pair-wise images from 40 cartridge cases fired with 

10 consecutively manufactured pistol slides did not produce any false identifications or false 

exclusions.

9:40 am – 10:05 am J. Song “Estimating Error Rates for Image-related Forensic Evidence 

Identification”

Reporting an error rate for firearm identification is a fundamental challenge in forensic science. 

Based on the Congruent Matching Cells (CMC) method recently developed at NIST, an error 

rate procedure is proposed which can serve as a statistical foundation for estimating error rates of 

image-related forensic evidence identifications, thus emulating methods used for forensic 

identification of DNA evidence. 

10:05 am – 10:20 am Q&A session

10:20 am – 10:50 am BREAK and POSTER session

Tours – individuals signed up for the tours please go to the registration booth. Your bus 

will depart or your walking venture will commence at 10:30 am.

10:50 am – 11:15 am Xiaoyu Alan Zheng “Objective 2D and 3D Analysis of Consecutively 

Manufactured Tools”

Consecutively manufactured tools have the highest likelihood of possessing similar surfaces that 

may lead to false toolmark identifications. It’s considered one of the more difficult comparisons 

and exemplifies the “worst case scenario” in case work. The goal of this project is to provide 

objective mathematical comparisons of toolmarks created by 10 consecutively manufactured 

chisels (striated toolmarks) and punches (impression toolmarks).

11:15 am – 11:40 am Johannes A. Soons “Development of a Ballistic Toolmark Research 

Database”

NIST is developing an open-access research database of bullet and cartridge case toolmark data 

to facilitate the development and validation of algorithms, metrics, and quantitative confidence 
limits for objective firearm identification. The database will contain traditional reflectance 

microscopy images and three-dimensional surface topography data acquired by NIST or 

submitted by database users. Our goal is a collection of datasets that: 1) represent the large 

variety of ballistic toolmarks encountered by forensic examiners, and 2) represent challenging 

identification scenarios, such as those posed by consecutively manufactured firearm components.

11:40 am – 12:05 pm Brian Renegar “Advancements in Polymer Bullet Replication 

Techniques”

Building on past research, NIST continues to develop an advanced polymer replication process 

for the replication of bullets and cartridge cases. New techniques being used in the molding and 

casting steps are discussed. Metal deposition coatings are also being employed to increase the 

durability of the polymer replicas.

12:05 – 12:30 Q&A

12:30 pm – 1:45 pm LUNCH and POSTER session

1:45 pm – 4:15 pm Statistical Measurements

1:45 pm – 2:00 pm Introduction: Christine Funk, Esq.

General Counsel

Department of Forensic Sciences

Washington, DC

2:00 pm – 2:15 pm Program overview: Dr. Antonio Possolo

Technical Program:

2:15 pm – 3:00 pm Simone Gittelson “From Inferences to Decisions in the Analysis of LowTemplate DNA Traces”

Forensic science casework involves making a series of decisions. Given the serious 

consequences that these decisions can lead to in the administration of justice, they should be 

based on coherent foundations and take into account the circumstances and objectives of the case 

at hand. A decision-theoretic approach to these decision problems provides a transparent 

framework for accomplishing this. This presentation illustrates such a decision-theoretic 

approach to two decision points in the analysis of low-template DNA traces: (1) choosing how to 

designate the genotype of the trace’s donor, and (2) choosing how many replicate PCR 

amplifications to perform. From a broader perspective on forensic science, the decision problems 

treated here are not restricted to the domain of low-template DNA traces. They represent the two 

fundamental types of decision problems: one-stage decision problems and two-stage decision 

problems. This theoretical framework therefore also lends itself to applications addressing 

decisions in other domains of forensic science.

3:00 pm – 3:45 pm BREAK and POSTER session

Tours – individuals signed up for the tours please go to the registration booth. Your bus 

will depart or walking venture will commence at 3:15 pm.

3:45 pm – 4:30 pm Hari Iyer, Soweon Yoon, Elham Tabassi

“Statistical Friction Ridge Analysis: Algorithms for Matching Minutiae Configurations and 

Evaluating Likelihood Ratios”
Our project is aimed at developing statistical methods for quantifying the uncertainty associated 

with claims of exact match between latent fingerprints obtained at crime scenes and reference 

prints. As part of this effort we have developed algorithms for partial matches of minutiae 

configurations and for computation of empirical likelihood ratios. In this talk we will discuss our 

approaches, their underlying theoretical rationale, and their performance on real data.

4:30 pm – 4:45 pm Q&A

4:45 pm Closing Remarks