URI Forensic Science Partnership Seminar Series announces schedule change

KINGSTON, R.I. -- January 31, 2001 -- The University of Rhode Island's Forensic Science Partnership Seminar Series has announced a change for the lecture to be held, Thursday, Feb. 1.

John Reid of the Department of Geology, Hampshire College, Amherst, Mass., will discuss the origins of enslaved Africans found in the New York African Burial Ground using strontium isotopes. The lecture will be held at 3:30 p.m. in Pastore Hall, Room 124, on the Kingston Campus. It is free and open to the public.

Reid will speak in place of Pete Hefferan, of Cartridge Actuated Devices, who was to speak on smokeless powders and dust explosions. Hefferan's talk will be held Feb. 15.

Reid will discuss a 1991 excavation for a new federal Environmental Protection Agency Building in lower Manhattan that resulted in the discovery of some 420 remains of slave burials. Reid has analyzed the enamel and dentin of teeth from about 15 individuals for the isotopes of strontium with the goal of deciphering the birthplaces and migrations of the individuals. Reid has recognized three sets of individuals from the sample population: 1. True birth New Yorkers. 2. People probably born on ancient rocks in West Africa. 3. Individuals either from the volcanic islands of the Caribbean, or from limestone terrain in Africa. Reid received his bachelor's degree in physics from Williams College; his master's in education from Harvard University and his doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

For Information: Jimmie Oxley 874-2103, Dave Lavallee 874-2116