Josh Brunty, a forensic science faculty member in the Marshall University College of Science, was invited by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to serve on a panel to help the organization strengthen law enforcement research.
LEAP, the Law Enforcement Advisory Panel, took place June 21-23 in Washington, D.C., with the overarching goal of prioritizing future criminal justice technology needs to develop the NIJ law enforcement research agenda.
Brunty, a digital forensics professor since 2012, said there is a shortage of qualified digital forensics practitioners in the U.S., so the demand for education in this area is high.
“The field of digital forensics requires more research efforts in a range of areas that have not been adequately explored, such as reasoning about extracting evidence from mobile devices, tool validation, data storage, and scalability,” Brunty said. “Involvement in panels such as these helps Marshall University identify the void in digital forensics research and adapt our educational programs to do so as well.”
Marshall’s forensic science program is one of most respected in the U.S., being the first program to earn FEPAC accreditation in digital forensics at the graduate level, Brunty noted. With the recent No. 1 ranking in national assessment test scores, it is no wonder that Marshall forensic science faculty are being sought out for their expertise, he said.
“Our hands-on, critical thinking approach to delivering curriculum makes graduates highly sought after in both the public and private sectors,” Brunty said.
Earning both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in criminal justice from Marshall, Brunty was also invited to speak at the 4th International Digital Forensics Curriculum Standards Workshop (DFCS), which is supported by funding from the National Science Foundation. His presentation on “Mobile Device Forensics: Challenges & Trends in Curriculum Development,” took place at the University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign on May 10.
For those interested in learning more about digital forensics, Brunty said Marshall will sponsor the Derbycon 6 Information Security Conference in Louisville, Kentucky Sept. 23-25, 2016. The university will also host and teach a new digital forensics track at this year’s Hackercon/SecureWV Conference in Charleston, West Virginia Nov. 18-20, 2016.
For more information about Marshall’s No. 1 forensic science program, contact The Forensic Science Program Office at 304-691-8931, forensics@marshall.edu, or visit www.marshall.edu/forensics online.