Supporting the future of forensic science
Overview
Previous winners
Our judges
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Sheree Hughes-Stamm
Dr. Sheree Hughes-Stamm is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland in Australia, and a Senior Research Fellow within the Department of Forensic Science at Sam Houston State University in the US, where she held the position of Associate Professor and the Director of Graduate Programs for six years. Sheree was also appointed to the Texas Forensic Science Commission by the Texas Governor’s office and served as the vice-chair until 2018. Her research interests include DNA collection, extraction and preservation techniques, body fluid identification, various DNA typing methods for skeletal remains and “touch” evidence including alternate DNA markers and Massively Parallel Sequencing technologies for forensic and intelligence purposes. -
Walther Parson
Walther Parson holds an associate professorship at the Institute of Legal Medicine, Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria and an adjunct professorship at Penn State, PA, USA. Under his scientific supervision, the Austrian National DNA Database Laboratory was set up in 1997 in Innsbruck, where he oversees the High Through-put DNA Database Laboratory and the Forensic Genomics research group. His multi-disciplinary research group is interested in forensics, medical and population genetics, as well as anthropology, archaeology, mathematics and history. Walther Parson and his group developed (1999-2006) the EDNAP Mitochondrial DNA Population Database (EMPOP), the world’s largest forensic mitochondrial DNA database for forensic quality control and data interpretation purposes. He and his group developed STRs for the Identity ENFSI Reference Database (STRidER), successor of STRbase, to quality control and disseminate STR allele frequencies and sequenced alleles. He has authored more than 350 peer-reviewed original articles. -
Bruce R. McCord
Bruce R. McCord is a Professor of Analytical and Forensic Chemistry at Florida International University. Dr. McCord received a BS in Chemistry with honors from the College of William and Mary in 1981, and a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1986. Prior to working at FIU, he was an Assistant Professor at Ohio University (1998-2004) and a Research Chemist at the FBI Laboratory (1989-1998). He has also served as an industrial chemist for Ciba Geigy and Syntex Pharmaceuticals. His current research interests involve the development of procedures for DNA typing by capillary electrophoresis and massively parallel sequencing, and other applications in bioanalytical chemistry and nanotechnology. Dr. McCord has published over 110 peer reviewed papers, 6 patents and 12 book chapters. He serves as deputy editor for the journal Electrophoresis and is a member of the editorial board the Journal of Forensic Chemistry. -
Thomas J. Parsons
Thomas J. Parsons is the Director of Science and Technology at the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP). He supervises a large technical staff in a multidisciplinary approach to location and identification of the missing through imagery, forensic archaeology, anthropology, pathology, bioinformatics and high throughput DNA analysis. Current development at the ICMP laboratory focuses on optimizing massively parallel sequencing approaches for missing persons DNA identification. Prior to joining the ICMP, Dr. Parsons worked at the US Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL). He received his undergraduate degree in Physics from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Washington in 1989. As a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Institute, he focused on ancient DNA, molecular evolution and phylogenetics, as well as mtDNA biogeography and avian speciation. He received the 2015 biennial Scientific Prize from the International Society of Forensic Genetics. -
Yingnan Bian
Dr. Yingnan Bian is Deputy Director and Associate Professor at Department of Forensic Biology, Academy of Forensic Science, Ministry of Justice in Shanghai, China. Dr. Bian leads both the research group at the Academy, as well as the forensic biology casework team, overseeing the completion of over 2,000 cases each year. His research interests include Massively Parallel Sequencing and Pyrosequencing, and their applications to human identity. Prior to joining the Academy, Dr. Bian worked in both the commercial sector, at Life Technologies, and in academia at Baylor College, USA, and Fudan University, China, where he gained his Ph.D. in 2009. -
Jiangwei Yan
Dr. Jiangwei Yan is a Professor at the School of Forensic Medicine, Shanxi Medical University. He is also the Director of Forensic Medicine and serves as a judicial expert. Before working at SMU, he worked at the Beijing Institute of Genomics, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2008-2018) and the Forensic Science Service, Beijing Public Security Bureau (1997-2007). Dr. Yan’s primary research interests include forensic genomics and bioinformatics. He has published over 70 peer reviewed scientific papers, 12 patents and 4 book chapters. He has won numerous academic awards, such as the Outstanding Young Scientists Award of Beijing, Ten Thousand Talents Program of Beijing and Prize for Science and Technology Achievement of the Ministry of Public Security. -
Keith Elliott
Keith Elliott is Associate Director, responsible for Global Marketing of Forensics and Human Identity at QIAGEN. He received his B.Sc. in Biological Sciences from Lancaster University in 1996 and M.Sc. in Biomedical and Forensic Egyptology from the University of Manchester in 1998. Keith has worked in the field of forensic science for over 20 years, starting in research and development at the UK Forensic Science Service in 1998. During his time at the FSS, Keith led the development of several key innovations including laser microdissection for sexual assault sample analysis, and the world’s first fully integrated point-of-need STR analysis system. After leaving the FSS, Keith held commercial roles at Key Forensic Services and IntegenX before joining QIAGEN in 2013.
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Sheree Hughes-Stamm
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Walther Parson
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Bruce R. McCord
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Thomas J. Parsons
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Yingnan Bian
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Jiangwei Yan
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Keith Elliott
Rules and regulations
Void where prohibited by law. No purchase is necessary. Purchase will not improve your chances of winning.
THE APPLICATION PERIOD IS NOW CLOSED. The odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received. The winners will be selected according to the judging process outlined below and notified by telephone call or email. Candidates who do not receive notification should assume that they have not been successful this time, but we wish them luck for next year.
The winning entries will be chosen by our distinguished panel of experts in the field of HID and Forensics. Members of the judging panel must be unbiased and have no conflicts of interest with any entries. The list of judges can be found on this page. Entries will be graded based on: Scientific merit of proposed project (40 pts), originality/innovation (20 pts), likelihood of successfully conducting proposed project (20 pts) and potential for impact (20 pts).
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