Each year, the Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) hosts a conference for all things forensic science, boasting eleven different sections: criminalistics, digital and multimedia sciences, engineering and applied sciences, general, jurisprudence, odontology, pathology/biology, psychiatry and behavioral sciences, questioned documents, toxicology, and, of course, anthropology! Although, this is soon to be twelve sections with the addition of forensic nursing starting next year!
This is a well-attended conference by researchers, practitioners, and students in biological and forensic anthropology, as it is a great opportunity to attend workshops, paper presentations, and posters, as well as engage in important discussions about standardization and the future of the discipline. This year was especially exciting as it was the first hybrid in-person/virtual AAFS conference since the February of 2020 and we celebrated 50 years of the anthropology section at AAFS! Additionally, for those of us who were able to go in person, it was held in the beautiful city of Seattle, Washington with coffee and food galore!
The conference was held from February 21-25 and included 90 posters and 90 paper presentations in the following sections:
- The AAFS Anthropology Section 50th Anniversary Symposium: Celebrating Awareness, Change, and Progress in Forensic Anthropology
- Best Practices, Standards, and Professional Practice
- 20th Anniversary of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks
- Mass Graves, Clandestine Graves, and Commingled Remains
- Perspectives on the Management of Unidentified Human Remains Cases
- Forensic Anthropology Practiced Internationally
- The Biological Profile and Human Identification
- Queered Science: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Gender-Inclusive Research
- Pioneers of Color: A Diverse Narrative of Forensic Anthropology
- Taphonomy and the Postmortem Interval
- Age-at-Death Estimation
- Microscopic, Molecular, and Atomic Techniques
- Thermal Trauma & Burn Pattern Analysis
- Trauma Analysis
The MSUFAL was greatly represented. All lab members attended the conference (some virtual and some in-person) and we collectively gave 5 presentations (see below). If you are interested in these topics, you can read the abstracts here.
We would also like to recognize one of our very own graduate students, Clara Devota, who was one of 15 students to receive the National Institute of Justice American Indian and Alaska Native Student Travel Scholarship, which supported her attendance at the AAFS conference this year as well as a conference for the American Society of Criminology last fall! It’s a great honor and a testament to Clara’s work as a scholar in the discipline in forensic anthropology – I know you all agree with us when we say we are lucky to have her!
Overall, we had an amazing time visiting Seattle and reconnecting with friends and colleagues who many of us haven’t seen in over two years. You know we spent too much money on coffee, but enjoyed every second of it (as the coffee kept us awake for it all!) and can’t wait for the conference next year in Orlando, Florida.
Authored by: Rhian Dunn
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