News
Forensic Science Welcome Back Pizza Party 2025
The Forensic Science Program of the Department of Chemistry in CoS successfully organized a grand event "Forensic Science Welcome Back Pizza Party 2025" to kick off this new Fall semester on September 25, 2025. Co-organized with the Scientific Association of Forensics (SAF), the event welcomed nearly 60 attendees, including forensic science undergraduates, chemistry graduate students, faculty, staff, and local forensic professionals. The party provided students with a great opportunity to network with peers, faculty, and practitioners while introducing SAF and encouraging student involvement in the forensic community at UTEP.
The program featured remarks from multiple speakers. Dr. James Li, Director of the Forensic Science Program, highlighted the program’s rapid growth and future goals under his leadership. Department Chair Prof. Cabrera inspired students with words of encouragement, while keynote speaker Prof. Mahesh Narayan shared insights on evolving cybercrime tactics such as IP shuffling. Ms. Ashley Rosiles, Crime Science Unit Supervisor at the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, reflected on her career in forensic science and praised the program’s swift progress and growing reputation. Multiple forensic science instructors, such as Dr. Hsini Lin and Dr. Roshanak Jafari, also attended to mingle with students and support program engagement.
Overall, the event was well-received by students, faculty, and staff. It successfully fostered community spirit, celebrated the program’s achievements, and underscored UTEP’s commitment to building a strong forensic science program that connects academic training with professional practice.
Go Miners!
The Forensic Science Division of the Department of Chemistry in CoS successfully organized a grand event "Forensic Science Welcome Back Pizza Party" to kick off this new Fall semester. The event received great support from Dean Dr. Kirken and Chair Dr. Cabrera and many other faculty members and the Scientific Association of Forensics (SAF). This party serves multiple purposes: 1) to provide an opportunity for students to exchange and mingle after the summer break; 2) Welcome new FS students; 3) welcome back to the new Fall semester; 4) introduce SAF and help students be involved in the forensic community at UTEP. Dean Dr. Kirken, Chair Dr. Cabrera, and Program Director Dr. James Li gave welcome remarks and introduced recent updates of the FS program in the event. About 90 people including many faculty members such as Associate Dean Dr. Walsh and former Biology interim Chair Dr. Charles Spencer attended the event. The Academic advisor Ms. Navarro also showed up to answer curriculum related questions from students.
Forensic Science student Angel Gutierrez gave a presentation on new methods of pathogen detection to aid rapid forensic pathology at the 2024 AAFS (American Academy of Forensic Sciences) Conference held in Denver in late Feb, 2024. Angel is an ASSETS undergraduate researcher in Dr. James Li’s research group.
From left to right, Alysha Green, president, Crystal Lopez, vice-President, and Kristina Bolivar, secretary. The first meeting of the UTEP Forensic Science elected officers at their September meeting. Dr. Fernando Rodriguez, Director of the UTEP Criminal Justice Program is the featured speaker at the October 28th meeting of the club.
