KINGSTON, R.I. — February 25, 2002 — The University of Rhode Island Forensic Science Partnership Seminar Series will feature Robert O’Brien of the Connecticut State Police Forensic Science Lab on Thursday, Thursday, Feb. 28 at 3:30 p.m.
O’Brien’s talk, “Gunshot Residue and Distance Determination,” will be held in Room 124 of Pastore Hall on the Kingston Campus. The lecture is free and open to the public. OBrien will discuss the importance of gunshot residue and distance determination in crime scene reconstruction.
OBrien graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Connecticut and received his masters degree in chemistry from St.
Josephs College, West Hartford.
He is currently a supervising criminalist at the Connecticut State Police Forensic Science Lab in Meriden. For the past 16 years, he has examined and analyzed various types of physical evidence found at crime scenes, including samples of gunshot residue, explosive residues, blood spatter, hair, paint, fiber, trace materials as well as blood and other body fluids.
He has worked extensively on crime scene reconstruction involving blood spatter and bullet trajectories. He has presented numerous papers on the topic of crime scene reconstruction and has qualified as an expert more than 150 times in various state and federal courts in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
New York and Alabama. O’ Brien is an instructor in the forensic science program at the University of New Haven and in the criminal justice program at Manchester Community College. He was also editor of Forensic Science Newsletters published by the FBI and the International Association for Identification (IAI) and served as president of the Connecticut Chapter of the IAI.
For Information: Dave Lavallee 401-874-2116