Faculty
The workshop will be taught by Dr. Reena Roy, associate professor in the Penn State Forensic Science Program.
Dr. Reena Roy received her doctoral degree from the University of Nebraska in 1981. After completing two years of postdoctoral research, she joined the Nebraska State Patrol Criminalistics Laboratory, where she worked for fifteen years as the supervisor of the forensic biology section. Since 1983 she has analyzed numerous forensic cases containing biological evidence and has testified more than one hundred times in courts in Nebraska, Iowa, and Missouri. Her analysis and testimony were crucial in many high-profile cases, including the triple homicide that was portrayed in the movie Boys Don't Cry. The ease with which she can explain complex scientific information to a jury was documented in the book All She Wanted. She has been featured in Unsolved Mysteries and other television programs. For her role in solving violent crimes, Dr. Roy has received numerous awards.
Dr. Roy also taught chemistry at a junior college and joined the research and development unit of LI-COR Biotechnology, Inc., as a molecular biologist. Her research there focused on forensic DNA analysis using infrared dye-labeled primers.
In 1999 she was hired by the St. Louis County Police Department to start a DNA program in their crime laboratory. As the DNA technical leader in St. Louis, Dr. Roy established the DNA section and was instrumental in helping the St. Louis County Police Crime Laboratory obtain accreditation from the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors Laboratory Accreditation Board. When Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Nebraska, offered her the opportunity to teach forensic science in their graduate program, she traveled to Lincoln on weekends to meet with her students and teach forensic biology and forensic DNA analysis methods. She was invited to participate in several workshops provided by the Saint Louis University for teachers, and she remains active in the Forensic Science Educators Conference.
Dr. Roy is a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and a past member of the Midwestern Association of Forensic Scientists and the Association of Forensic DNA Analysts and Administrators. She is a member of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors and a past member of the Association of Forensic Quality Assurance Managers. She actively participated in DNA Forensic Technical Working Group, an organization sponsored by the National Institute of Justice.
During her tenure as a forensic scientist, Dr. Roy pursued research in the area of protein polymorphism and DNA analysis as they applied to forensic biology evidence. She has authored and co-authored numerous papers in the area of protein polymorphism and forensic DNA analysis, and presented seminars in Finland, Australia, France, Spain, and Norway, as well as at many forensic science conferences in the United States.
Following her career as a forensic scientist for almost twenty-five years, Dr. Roy joined Penn State in 2007 as an associate professor in the forensic science program, focusing primarily on forensic science, teaching, and research. She continues to provide many workshops for junior high and high school students, as well as school teachers, in St. Louis, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania.
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