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• Identifying Katrina's Victims
• Penn State Forensic
  Science Program
• Crime Scene University
• Meet the Director: Robert Shaler

• Crime Scene Investigators:
  Weigh the Evidence
• A review of "The Decline of the Death Penalty and the Discovery
  of Innocence"
• Deciphering DNA

Robert Shaler
Title:
Director, Eberly College of Science’s Forensics Program and professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, Penn State University

Primary focus:
science, biochemistry and molecular biology

Recent publications:
Who They Were: Inside the World Trade Center DNA Story: The Unprecedented Effort to Identify the Missing

You can contact
Robert Shaler here:
Phone: 814-863-6742
E-mail: rcs26@psu.edu

Catching up with Robert Shaler

How did you first become interested in your specialty?
I saw a newspaper ad in the Pittsburgh Press offering scientific sleuthing courses.

What is the most exciting or fascinating part of your job?
Molding young minds to think creatively about how to apply science to the solution of crimes.

What is your favorite aspect of working at
Penn State?
Working with and guiding young people into their chosen career and having a vast technological resource at Penn State with which to work.

Where do you see your field 10 years from now?
More educational institutions offering forensic science programs, more innovative technology to solve crimes, science at the crime scene via distance observation, more distance learning opportunities, increased federal funding for research, and better students entering the forensic field.