Honors Research Earns Forensic Sciences Alum National Recognition

At the end of the summer, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Orlando, Florida, to present my honors research at the 109th annual educational conference. For months since graduating in May, I worked with my advisor, De Alcaraz-Fossoul, Ph.D., associate professor in the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences, to turn my Honors research project into a full-fledged scientific article and poster presentation. I then took the poster to Florida with me and was able to present it at the conference, where I was awarded “best poster presentation.”

Of all the posters presented, mine was picked as the judges’ favorite. I was shocked. This was just supposed to be a trip for me to gain experience in my discipline and become more comfortable presenting research. It was one of the most nerve-wracking experiences of my life. But it was also one of the most valuable, and I’m not sure I would’ve done so well without my experiences here at the University of New Haven or without the guidance of the wonderful faculty who helped me on my journey.

Everything started in May of 2024 when I confirmed with Dr. Fossoul that he would be my research advisor for my honors thesis project, and we nailed down a topic. I was going to study the effects of different temperatures over time on the degradation of latent fingerprints. Over the summer leading into the Fall 2024 semester, I planned out my research project and submitted all the approvals so I could start as soon as possible, as it was going to be a lengthy data collection period, five weeks in total.

Through September, Dr. Fossoul and his other advisees trained me on the proper techniques regarding the deposition of the fingerprints, the different types of processing, photographing, and data processing. Then, by the time our approvals came though at the end of September, I was able to begin my data collection in October.

For the month of October and the first week of November, I probably spent more time in the lab than at my dorm! Almost every other day I needed to be in the lab collecting data, but it finally ended, and I was able to focus on the data analysis. Throughout the Spring semester I analyzed my data and compiled my thesis, and I finished with presenting my Honor’s thesis at the beginning of May.

Then, after I was done with the work required for the Honors thesis, Dr. Fossoul suggested I keep working with the data, turn it into an article, and try to present it at the IAI conference. I thought it would be a great opportunity, and we began work over the summer reanalyzing the data and looking at the results from different angles.

Because my work was similar to those that had already been published, Dr. Fossoul encouraged me to look at it differently and find real-world applications for my results. I realized my data could also be used to find the best temperature to store fingerprints at, so they don’t lose identification potential due to degradation. It was with this new angle that I created my poster to present at the conference.

I brought my reimagined poster to the conference and nervously waited all day for the poster presentations – they weren’t happening until 4 p.m. and the conference opened at 8 a.m. There were talks and presentations throughout the day I attended that were very interesting, but my mind was stuck on my poster presentation. I was incredibly nervous. But, I knew my topic, and I knew my time at the University had prepared me.

Throughout all my classes here I have probably had to present in every single one. I didn’t realize when I was doing those presentations how applicable those skills would be to my current situation. Without having to do so many presentations, I don’t think I would have done as well as I did at the conference.

The posters were set up along one side of an exhibition hall, and we were told to stay by our posters and speak to people as they came up. As the time went on, I became more comfortable. I was able to answer many questions that people had for me, and I was able to admit when I didn’t know an answer and offered it as a direction for future research.

When they announced to the entire hall of people that I had won, many more people started coming up and asking questions and the nerves started back up again. But once it was over, I was so proud of myself and the work I had done to earn the honor of winning the poster presentation. I am incredibly grateful for my time at the University of New Haven and how it prepared me for this experience.