Introduction to Forensic Chemistry

Kelly Elkins earned a BS in Biology and BA in Chemistry from Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire. She went on to earn MA and PhD degrees in Chemistry from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Heidelberg, Germany from 2001-2002 and a Cancer Research Institute Postdoctoral Fellow in the Biology Department at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts from 2003-2004. She was a Temporary Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Georgia, for two years and an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Metropolitan State College of Denver in Denver, Colorado, for five years, where she served as Director of the Criminalistics Program (2010-2012), a Forensic Science Education Programs Accreditation Commission (FEPAC)-accredited program, supervised undergraduate research and internships, and developed the curriculum for their Criminalistics II (Forensic Biology) course. She joined the Towson University Chemistry Department and FEPAC-accredited Forensic Sciences program in 2012 where she is currently Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Graduate Faculty in the Masters of Science in Forensic Science Program. She teaches undergraduate and graduate forensic chemistry courses including Forensic Chemistry, Forensic Serology, and Weapons of Mass Destruction. Her research interests include the development of new methodologies and course materials to support forensic science. Her research focuses on the development of new real-time high resolution melt PCR assays for species identification of "legal high" plants, controlled species, and food-borne pathogens.

• 1 An introduction to forensic chemistry and physical evidence 2 Chemical tests 3 The microscope 4 Light spectroscopy 5 Advanced spectroscopy 6 Chromatography 7 Inorganic poisons and contaminants 8 Controlled substances 9 Toxicology 11 Questioned documents and impression evidence 12 Latent print development 13 Firearms 14 Fire, arson, and explosives 15 Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives (CBRNE) 16 Environmental forensics, Index