OSAC Update 

Mark D. Stolorow 

Director for OSAC Affairs 

Office of Special Programs 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

National Commission on Forensic Science 

Washington, DC 

May 13, 2014 
Current and Proposed 

NIST Forensic Science Research Areas 
OSAC Update 

• Outreach - Conducted open OSAC forums and 

provided presentations with a dozen stakeholder 

organizations since last NCFS meeting 

• Infrastructure - Modified OSAC infrastructure 

based on stakeholder feedback – (next slide) 

• Membership - Opened online membership 

application process, April 11 – May 11, 2014 

• Response - Received more than 1,300 

membership applications 
Understanding the OSAC Levels 

• Set policy, rules, priorities for OSAC 

• Manage OSAC Registry of Standards 

Forensic Science Standards Board (FSSB)

• Provide advice across all forensic science and discipline committees

Legal Resource, Quality Infrastructure, Human Factors Committees

• Manage work within a scientific area (harmonize/leverage across related disciplines)

• Develop scientific area standards, (e.g., terminology, reporting requirements, conclusion 

statements) 

Scientific Area Committees

• Identify and develop standards & best practices for discipline 

Discipline specific Subcommittees (Working Groups) 
Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC) 

SAC = Scientific Area Committee 

 Sub = Subcommittee 

Imaging Technologies Sub 

Firearms & Toolmarks 

Sub 

Questioned Documents 

Sub 

DNA Analysis Sub1 Controlled Substances Sub Anthropology Sub Facial Identification Sub 

Disaster Victim 

Identification Sub Friction Ridge Sub 

Fire Debris and Explosives 

Sub (lab) 

Materials (Trace) Sub 

Medical/Legal Death 

Investigation Sub 

Blood Stain Pattern 

Analysis Sub 

Toxicology Sub 

Dogs and Sensors Sub 

Footwear 

& Tire Tread Sub 

Forensic Science Standards Board (FSSB) 

Wildlife Forensics Sub 

Geological Materials Sub 

Speaker Recognition Sub 

SAC 

Biology/DNA 

Quality Infrastructure 

Committee (QIC)

SAC 

Physics/Pattern

SAC 

Chemistry/ 

Instrumental Analysis

SAC 

IT/Multimedia 

SAC 

Crime Scene/ 

Death Investigation 

Fire Scene and 

Explosives Sub 

Legal Resource 

Committee (LRC)

DNA Analysis Sub2 

Human Factors 

Committee (HFC)

Gunshot Residue Sub 

Odontology Sub 

March 18, 2014 

MOVED 

NEW 

EXPANDED 
Alaska 

Hawaii 

OSAC Applicants 

as of 12 May 2014

357 state govt

331 local govt 

234 federal govt 

223 private 

154 academic 

 14 FFRDC 

 56 non-U.S. 

Other countries (21 total; 56 individuals) 

Australia (10) 

Bangladesh (1) 

Belarus (1) 

Bosnia (1) 

Brazil (1) 

Canada (17) 

China (1) 

France (1) 

Germany (2) 

Israel (2) 

Italy (1) 

Korea (1) 

Malaysia (1) 

Nepal (1) 

The Netherlands (1) 

New Zealand (1) 

Peru (1) 

Singapore (2) 

Switzerland (1) 

Taiwan (1) 

UK (8) 

Puerto Rico 

All 50 states 

represented 
Academic 

Federal 

Government 

FFRDC 

Local Government 

Private Sector 

State Government 

Background of OSAC Applicants 

(as of 12 May 2014)

12 % 

Academic 

18 % 

Federal govt 

27 % 

State govt 

25 % 

Local govt 

FFRDC = Federally-funded 

research and development center 

Employer Classification 

1313 total 

17 % 

Private 

sector 
Attorney 

Educator/Trainer 

Judge 

Other 

Practitioner 

Quality Assurance Manager 

R&D Technology Partner 

Researcher 

Background of OSAC Applicants 

(as of 12 May 2014)

8 % 

8 % 

2 % 

65 % 

“practitioner” 

Job Classification 

# statisticians (ASA) = 25 

11 % 

“researcher” 

4 % 

1313 total 
Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC) 

SAC = Scientific Area Committee 

 Sub = Subcommittee 

Imaging Technologies Sub 

Firearms & Toolmarks 

Sub 

Questioned Documents 

Sub 

DNA Analysis Sub1 Controlled Substances Sub Anthropology Sub Facial Identification Sub 

Disaster Victim 

Identification Sub Friction Ridge Sub 

Fire Debris and Explosives 

Sub (lab) 

Materials (Trace) Sub 

Medical/Legal Death 

Investigation Sub 

Blood Stain Pattern 

Analysis Sub 

Toxicology Sub 

Dogs and Sensors Sub 

Footwear 

& Tire Tread Sub 

Forensic Science Standards Board (FSSB) 

Wildlife Forensics Sub 

Geological Materials Sub 

Speaker Recognition Sub 

SAC

Biology/DNA 

Quality Infrastructure 

Committee (QIC)

SAC

Physics/Pattern

SAC 

Chemistry/ 

Instrumental Analysis

SAC

IT/Multimedia 

SAC

Crime Scene/ 

Death Investigation 

Fire Scene and 

Explosives Sub 

Legal Resource 

Committee (LRC)

DNA Analysis Sub2 

Human Factors 

Committee (HFC)

Gunshot Residue Sub 

Odontology Sub 

1,313 Applicants and their primary selections as of May 12, 2014 

42 86 13 

64 65 73 24 48 

73 

79 

17 

78 

42 

8 

24 

46 

58 

22 

19 

21 

17 

56 

29 

32 

22 

30 

22 

71 

58 

24 

50 

10 15 10 

15 

15 15 

15 15 

NIST applicant 

primary selection 

Statistician (ASA) 
Next Steps - Timeline for 2014 

• Appoint FSSB in May 

• Appoint LRC, QIC, HFC membership and SAC 

leadership in June 

• First SAC meetings to select Subcommittee 

leadership in August 

• Conduct OSAC training virtually via webinar in 

Sept/Oct 

• Hold in-person meeting between mid-November 

and January 

10 
www.nist.gov/forensics/osac.cfm 
NIST Centers of Excellence Program 

This Program will assist NIST in building new capacity and competencies to 

carryout our mission 

• In 2013 Congress provided NIST with the authority and the 

funds to establish a new tool for very rapidly augmenting 

existing and/or acquiring new competencies needed to address 

emerging areas of national priority 

Broadly defined, the objectives of the Centers are to: 

•Provide an interdisciplinary environment in which NIST, academia, and industry can collaborate in 

pursuing research focused on innovations in measurement science and development of new technology 

focused on emerging areas of national need 

•Foster expanded development of expertise in measurement science and its role in innovation through 

the education and training of scientists and engineers 

•Enhance technical innovation through earlier alignment of measurement science with emerging and 

innovative new fields of research 

•Further expand NIST’s Laboratory Program’s footprint beyond our Gaithersburg and Boulder 

campuses 
NIST Centers of Excellence 

• First of these new “Centers of Excellence” is focused on 

Advanced Materials 

– Center for Hierarchical Materials Design (CHiMaD) 

• NIST, Northwestern, University of Chicago, Argonne 

• Later this year, NIST plans to issue RFPs for establishment of 

two additional CoEs 

– One to be focused on Forensic Science 

– Press Release signaling this intention and soliciting proposals is 

imminent 

• We would welcome the Commission’s input with respect 

to specific areas of focus for the Forensic Center 
NIST Forensic Center of Excellence 

Possible Focus Areas 

– Cognitive Bias: Establish the limits and measures of performance and 

address the impact of sources of variability and potential bias. The 

Center would address the forensic disciplines that rely on subjective 

assessments of matching characteristics. 

– Pattern Evidence: Development of objective comparison methods that 

would ultimately provide a measurement of similarity and confidence 

limits in; firearm/toolmark evidence, fingerprint/latent prints, shoe/tire 

tread impressions, and in the future blood spatter patterns, and shooting 

trajectory/reconstruction. 

– Other? 
Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC) 

SAC = Scientific Area Committee 

 Sub = Subcommittee 

Imaging Technologies Sub 

Firearms & Toolmarks 

Sub 

Questioned Documents 

Sub 

DNA Analysis Sub1 Controlled Substances Sub Anthropology Sub Facial Identification Sub 

Disaster Victim 

Identification Sub Friction Ridge Sub 

Fire Debris and Explosives 

Sub (lab) 

Materials (Trace) Sub 

Medical/Legal Death 

Investigation Sub 

Blood Stain Pattern 

Analysis Sub 

Toxicology Sub 

Dogs and Sensors Sub 

Footwear 

& Tire Tread Sub 

Forensic Science Standards Board (FSSB) 

Wildlife Forensics Sub 

Geological Materials Sub 

Speaker Recognition Sub 

SAC 

Biology/DNA 

Quality Infrastructure 

Committee (QIC)

SAC 

Physics/Pattern

SAC 

Chemistry/ 

Instrumental Analysis

SAC 

IT/Multimedia 

SAC 

Crime Scene/ 

Death Investigation 

Fire Scene and 

Explosives Sub 

Legal Resource 

Committee (LRC)

DNA Analysis Sub2 

Human Factors 

Committee (HFC)

Gunshot Residue Sub 

Odontology Sub 

March 18, 2014