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<h1 class="nist-page__title">Improving Forensic Chemistry: A Q&amp;A With NIST&#039;s Ed Sisco</h1>
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<div class="daterange"><time datetime="2021-05-05T12:00:00Z">May 5, 2021</time>
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<figure class="nist-image--lightbox nist-image" data-lightbox="https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/styles/2800_x_2800_limit/public/images/2021/05/04/Ed%20Sisco%20featured.jpg?itok=TXHGXwb-" data-media-id="609391">
<img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/960_x_960_limit/public/images/2021/05/04/Ed%20Sisco%20featured.jpg?itok=VR1Q1Ygu" width="960" height="600" alt="masked man with baseball cap seated at a lab bench pipetting samples " typeof="foaf:Image" />
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<p>Ed Sisco analyzing wipe samples of the outside of suspected drug packaging by thermal desorption direct analysis in real-time mass spectrometry (TD-DART-MS).</p>
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<span class="nist-image__credit-label">Credit:</span>
E. Sisco/NIST
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<p><em>Ed Sisco has been a research chemist within the Surface and Trace Chemical Analysis Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) since 2014. His research has focused on chemical identification systems for forensics, homeland security and other applications. Ed is a finalist for a Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal in the Emerging Leaders category, which is awarded to federal employees under the age of 35 who have made important contributions early in their professional careers. The Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals are intended to highlight excellence in the federal workforce and inspire other talented and dedicated individuals to go into public service.</em></p><h2>Tell us about your career path thus far. How did you get involved in forensic science?</h2><p>When trying to decide what to study in college, the only two majors that stuck out to me were forensic science and landscaping architecture. I decided to pursue forensic science at West Virginia University, where several professors ignited my interest in research. From there I chose to pursue my Ph.D. in chemistry with an emphasis on forensic science. At the time you could not get a Ph.D. in forensic science. I went to the University of Maryland under a Department of Defense program where I was sponsored by the Defense Forensic Science Center (DFSC). Since UMD did not have a forensics-focused professor or project area, I looked for opportunities outside the university to do research, which is how I was introduced to NIST. I was able to complete my Ph.D. research at NIST and DFSC. After graduating I was able to stay on at NIST to continue work on our forensic chemistry portfolio.</p><h2>Why do you find working in forensic science interesting?</h2><p>Working in forensics is interesting for several different reasons. The community has real needs and often doesnt have the time or resources to address them. Many laboratories are eager to work in a collaborative nature to address the challenges, which helps ensure the work we do is practical and implementable. The additional need of developing solutions that must be scientifically sound but also plug into the law enforcement and legal sectors presents another fun challenge.</p><h2>What made you decide on a career in the federal government?</h2><p>I discovered, during my time at WVU, that I preferred research over casework and needed to position my next steps to allow for that. Outside of academia there are only a handful of institutions that have research portfolios in forensics. Nearly all of them are part of the federal government. The flexibility to create your own research portfolio and the reputation of NIST in the forensics community are what drew me to this particular agency.</p><h2>What are the big scientific challenges today in forensic chemistry?</h2><p>There are several major challenges in forensic chemistry today. Many of them vary according to the specific discipline. The need for reference materials and reference data to ensure quality control and verify conclusions are universal to forensic chemistry. In many disciplines an identification cannot be made unless there is a reference material or reference data to compare it to.</p><p>There is a big push to move toward objective, quantifiable interpretation of results as well. Many of the conclusions currently made by forensic chemists are at least partly subjective. In seized-drug analysis one may rely on a visual color change in a chemical reaction to identify a class of drug, while in fire debris analysis a chemist will visually compare a chemical fingerprint from a suspected arson sample to that of gasoline to determine if it is a match. These subjective conclusions can be difficult to defend in court and do not provide a measure of the confidence in the conclusion. One way to alleviate these concerns is to develop ways to arrive at objective, probabilistic interpretations and conclusions. Objective conclusions are already commonplace in forensic biology (DNA).</p><p>In seized-drug analysis, novel psycho
<div data-media-id="603996">
<div class="video-embed-field"><div class="video-embed-field-lazy" data-video-embed-field-lazy="&lt;div class=&quot;video-embed-field-provider-nist-kaltura video-embed-field-responsive-video&quot;&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;854&quot; height=&quot;480&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allow=&quot;autoplay *; fullscreen *; encrypted-media *&quot; allowfullscreen=&quot;allowfullscreen&quot; src=&quot;https://www.kaltura.com/p/684682/embedPlaykitJs/uiconf_id/55674542?iframeembed=true&amp;amp;entry_id=1_hyg72bf6&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
"><img alt="Safely testing seized drugs that might contain fentanyl" loading="lazy" src="https://cdnsecakmi.kaltura.com/p/684682/sp/68468200/thumbnail/entry_id/1_hyg72bf6/width/1280" typeof="foaf:Image">
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<div class="video-embed-field-lazy-title">Safely testing seized drugs that might contain fentanyl</div>
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<figcaption class="nist-image__caption">Scientists describe a new way for police and forensic chemists to test seized drugs while minimizing the risk of accidental exposure to fentanyl, a super potent drug that can be dangerous if a small amount becomes airborne and is accidentally inhaled.</figcaption>
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<a href="/blogs/taking-measure/categories/248416">Chemistry</a>,
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<h3 class="nist-teaser__title"><a href="/blogs/taking-measure/speeding-wheels-justice-how-nist-resources-can-help-crime-labs-work-faster"><span>Speeding Up the Wheels of Justice: How NIST Resources Can Help Crime Labs Work Faster</span>
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<div class="daterange"><time datetime="2025-01-08T12:00:00Z">January 8, 2025</time>
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<div class="nist-teaser__content">
<div class="text-with-summary"> Forensic science is not as easy as it looks on TV. But NIST resources are helping crime labs examine evidence more efficiently — so the justice system can work
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