KINGSTON, R.I. – Jan. 29, 2019 – Michael Baden, M.D., the host of HBO’s “Autopsy” and author of more than 80 articles and books, headlines the Spring 2019 University of Rhode Island Forensic Science Partnership Seminar Series, which continues Feb. 1 and concludes April 26 with Dr. Baden’s lecture.
His talk, “What the Dead have to Tell,” will be held from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in Room 100 of the Richard E. Beaupre Center for Chemical and Forensic Sciences, 140 Flagg Road, Kingston Campus.
Dr. Baden was the chief forensic pathologist for the New York State Police, chairman of the House Select Committee on Assassinations’ Forensic Pathology Panel, and a lead pathologist and expert witness on famous cases and investigations.
Dr. Baden worked on the John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. assassinations, and the O.J. Simpson and Phil Spector trials. Baden has also conducted private autopsies in the Michael Brown shooting, the death of New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez, and the death of civil rights lawyer and politician Chokwe Lumumba. Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri August 9, 2014; Hernandez took his own life in prison after being convicted of murder April 15, 2015; and Lumumba, the Mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, died of congestive heart failure February 25, 2014.
The 20th year of the URI Forensic Science Partnership Seminar Series will also highlight the famous Isabella Gardner Stewart Museum art theft, DNA analysis, federal security challenges, and more. The Forensic Science Partnership, in conjunction with URI’s Department of Chemistry and the Rhode Island State Crime Laboratory at URI, hosts the free, public series on Fridays at the Beaupre Center, Room 100, from 3:30 to 5 p.m.
The other speakers and their topics for the series are:
Feb. 1: Neil Clapperton, criminalist II at the Rhode Island State Crime Laboratory, “Firearms and Tool Marks”
Feb. 8: Amy Duhaime, criminalist III at the Rhode Island State Crime Laboratory, “Trace Evidence”
Feb. 15: Deputy State Fire Marshals at the Rhode Island Office of the State Fire Marshal, James Given and Paul Manning, “Arson Fire Investigations”
Feb. 22: Mark Zabinski, criminalist II at the Rhode Island State Crime Laboratory, “Fingerprints”
Mar. 1: Michael DiLauro, assistant public defender at the State of Rhode Island Office of the Public Defender, “Forensic Science and Testimony-a Holistic Approach”
Mar. 8: Anthony Amore, director of security at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, “Isabella Stewart Gardner Theft”
Mar. 22: Cara Lupino, supervisor of forensic biology and DNA at the Rhode Island Department of Health, “DNA Analysis”
Mar. 29: Virginia Maxwell, associate professor and assistant dean, Forensic Science Department, Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Science at the University of New Haven, “Glass and Soil Evidence”
Apr. 5: Robert Almeida, senior forensic scientist, at the Rhode Island Department of Health, “Forensic Toxicology”
Apr. 12: Joseph Salter, director for Transportation Security Administration at T.F. Green Airport, “Aviation and Transport-Security Challenges”
Apr. 19: Leslie Nolan, supervisor, forensic drug chemistry, at the Rhode Island Department of Health, “Drugs”
To be placed on an email list for the announcements of upcoming FSP seminars send an email request to dhilliard@uri.edu
FSP Seminar Website: https://www.chm.uri.edu/forensics/seminars.php
Alexa Stewart, intern in the Marketing and Communications Department at URI and public relations and communication studies major, wrote this press release.