Forensic Scientist

Forensic Scientist

LIsa Black

Cape Coral, FL

Female, 49

I spent the five happiest years of my life in a morgue. As a forensic scientist in the Cleveland coroner’s office I analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. Now I'm a certified latent print examiner and CSI for a police department in Florida. I also write a series of forensic suspense novels, turning the day job into fiction. My books have been translated into six languages.

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Last Answer on July 21, 2022

Best Rated

I am currently a sophomore in highschool and I want to be a forensic pathologist/medical examiner. But I don’t know what classes I absolutely need to take in highschool or what to major in college. Could you give me advice please ?

Asked by Isabelle about 7 years ago

If you want to be a pathologist you will have to be a doctor, and will need to go to med school. So you are looking for a pre-med program. Best of luck!

Mrs. Black, I'm a freshmen in college and would like to know if you'd allow me to conduct an interview with yourself over email? This is for one of my classes since I am highly interested in becoming a csi.

Asked by Katerin P. over 6 years ago

Sure, email me at lisa-black@live.com.

I wanna know few details about image created date, modified and accessed date.if created and accessed date time same can i confirm that i viewed or saved or deleted the image by modify date.because i allowed automatically download media option in viber and when i check propertis of image without i seen or accessed how it comes with different modify date and same created accessed date.and same thing in viber/.thumbnail file because i never seen those images.

Asked by Bryan almost 7 years ago

I'm so sorry but I don't know. I'm not trained in digital forensics.

Is it dangerous to be a forensic scientist ?
Thanks

Asked by Tatiana about 7 years ago

No.

I'm studying about fingerprint patterns and phenotypic variations between parents and their kids. Which of the patterns are dominant/recessive? How can there be different patterns on each finger?

Asked by Liza about 7 years ago

Fingerprints develop randomly as a child is moving around in the womb before birth, so they are not dictated by genes. That said, there can sometimes be vague similarities among family members (like having radial loops, all arches, or whatever). There are three patterns, loops, whorls and arches, and you can easily have some of your fingers have loops and then a few have whorls, or they can be all one type, or any combination.

This is for my forensics class. Was there a case that took you longer than expected, or was very easy to solve?

Asked by TERENCE L SMITH over 5 years ago

Wow, that's kind of hard, possibly because we in forensics don't 'solve' cases, the detective does. We provide them the information that hopefully solves or helps to solve the case. Some that took a surprisingly short time: we had a would-be rapist drop his wallet at the scene. I recently had a burglary/arson/car theft in which I had some decent fingerprints, but they didn't match anyone in our city database. The detective had no leads at all and no idea where the car was. Then as is routine I checked the prints against the neighboring city's database, and got a hit, they questioned the suspect and he confessed. In my small town we often have the killer waiting at the scene and telling us that they did it. However, after sitting in jail for a while they may decide they were justified, so the legal trial may not even begin until 2-3 years later. One that took longer: we had the brutal double murder of a woman and a young girl in 1989. Despite a copious investigation of every friend, acquaintance, fingerprint or hair involved, no leads. Then two years ago a man was arrested on a relatively minor charge and his DNA was searched and hit on the unsolved murder. Hope that helps!

I'm a forensic chem major and I'm really struggling in my chem courses. When I took forensics in high school, I was incredible in lab. What advice do you have for me? Do you believe I'll be unsuccessful in this field because I'm not good in chemistry

Asked by AmandaM over 6 years ago

I’m sure it depends on what you want to do (lab work or field work) and what’s required. You would be better off talking to your local forensic lab to see what kind of things they do. Most likely the daily work of a forensic lab does not really involve exquisite chemistry. For my part, I was an ace in general chemistry but I never really ‘got’ organic chemistry. Best of luck!