DATE:  Tuesday, April  17, 2018

TIME: 11:30 - 12:30pm

TITLE: Murder and Maggots - Using insects in death investigations

VENUE:  Halpern Centre, Rm 114 (SFU Burnaby Campus) 

SPEAKER:  Gail Anderson,  Professor,  SFU School of Criminology

ABSTRACT: Forensic entomology is the use of insects in legal cases, primarily homicide but also elder and animal abuse cases. Carrion insects colonize a body very rapidly after death and develop in the cadaver in a predictable manner. As decomposition continues, a predictable sequence of species and families of insects colonize the body over time. Both of these biological phenomena can be utilized to estimate the period of insect colonization and, hence, infer time elapsed since death. Insects can also be used to indicate a potential wounds site, determine whether a body has been moved or disturbed, and, in living victims, estimate the length of time of neglect. This talk will outline a number of forensic entomology cases and is not for the squeamish!

ABOUT: Dr. Gail S. Anderson is a Professor in the School of Criminology and the Co-Director of the Centre for Forensic Research at Simon Fraser University. She holds a Burnaby Mountain Endowed Professorship at SFU. She is a forensic entomology consultant to the Police as well as the SPCA and Wildlife Enforcement.  She has been analyzing forensic entomology cases since 1988, and has testified as an expert witness in court many times.Anderson was a recipient of Canada’s Top 40 under 40 Award and a YWCA Women of Distinction Award for Science and Technology, and the SFU Alumni Association Outstanding Alumni Award. She was listed in TIME magazine as one of the top five global innovators in the world, this century, in the field of Criminal Justice in 2001 (the only Canadian listed) and as one of the Leaders for the 21^st Century by TIME Magazine in 1999. She was awarded the Derome Award in 2001; the most prestigious award the Canadian Society of Forensic Science (CSFS) bestows -for “outstanding contributions to the field of forensic science”. In 2017, she was awarded the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Pathology Biology Section Award for Achievement in the Life Sciences