UCF’s National Center for Forensic Science and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Co-Host Educational Colloquium and Open House

Students and forensic professionals gather to explore new methods, tools, and innovative approaches to process evidence for criminal justice cases.

Written by: Emily Dougherty | Published December 9, 2025

UCF and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) recently joined together for the Educational Colloquium on Recent Advances in Forensic Sexual Assault Investigations, paired with a student open house that immersed attendees in both research and real-world forensic practice. The event highlighted UCF’s long-standing commitment to advancing forensic science and strengthening the pipeline between academic programs and the state’s crime laboratories.

Dr. Jack Ballantyne, Interim Director of UCF’s National Center for Forensic Science (NCFS) and professor in the Department of Chemistry and Jason Bundy, Director of Forensic Services, opened the morning by welcoming students and professionals to a day designed to blend education with immersive engagement. Ballantyne emphasized how meaningful it was for students to interact directly with professional forensic scientists.

“It’s my great pleasure to represent UCF Forensics here today at a joint UCF and FDLE event,” he says. “For the student’s here today, this a great opportunity to meet and interact with operational forensic casework scientists.”

Ballantyne reinforced the deep partnership between UCF and FDLE, noting that the university’s forensic science programs, established 50 years ago, have long supported the state’s forensic workforce.

Many FDLE analysts across Florida began their careers as UCF students, and some are now completing advanced degrees through UCF while continuing full-time casework.

“We have multiple FDLE crime lab analysts across the state currently in the MS program as we speak,” he says. “It is very useful, because it means they can complete their studies while working.”

Ballantyne shares that the collaboration continues to grow stronger each year, and the colloquium was a clear example of that commitment.

Ballantyne shares that the collaboration continues to grow stronger each year, and the colloquium was a clear example of that commitment.

The day moved into its research presentations with Erin Hanson, professor of chemistry, who discussed how rapid DNA technology is reshaping the landscape of sexual assault kit processing.

She explains how rapid DNA integrates extraction, quantification, amplification and detection into a single instrument, turning what is typically a multi-step, multi-instrument workflow into a streamlined process.

“Rapid DNA fully integrates the sample analysis workflow into a single instrument,” Hanson says. “This reduces the test time to just 90 minutes.”

She walked the audience through how rapid DNA was initially approved only for high-quality reference samples, often used in booking stations where a swab from an arrestee could be processed on-site and checked against national databases before release.

As interest grew, law enforcement agencies began using rapid DNA in broader investigative contexts. Behind the scenes, task forces and operational labs spent years determining what safeguards, chemistry updates, and quality standards were needed for casework deployment.

“As of July 1st this year, there are national quality assurance standards and procedures in place for the use of rapid DNA in casework,” Hanson says.

Hanson described UCF’s role in working with Thermo Fisher Scientific to develop sexual assault–specific protocols for the updated RapidHIT ID 2.0 system. Much of this development, she notes, came from undergraduate researchers who moved the technology forward. The primary challenge was creating an off-instrument differential extraction method, since the rapid system cannot separate sperm and non-sperm cells.

“Our goal was to develop an off-instrument differential extraction process,” she said. “The rapid instrument does not allow us to separate sperm cells from non-sperm cells, which is critical in sexual assault evidence.”

Candice Bridge, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry, followed with a talk about the realities of forensic sexual assault evidence. She addressed the assumptions students often bring into the lab.

“It’s easy to get into the books and start reading or watching shows and think you know what this job is,” she says. “But you have to be able to take all that away and just look at what the science is telling you.”

Bridge emphasized that bodily fluids do not behave predictably; transfer is rarely uniform, and each case requires contextual understanding.

“Bodily fluid doesn’t always transfer the way you think it should,” she said. “It doesn’t always show up in the places you expect it to.”

Her message encouraged future analysts to think holistically, to balance biological evidence with the realities of consent, force, and the unpredictability of human interactions.

She stressed the importance of interpretation skills and critical thinking, highlighting that forensic work extends far beyond running tests.

Morgan Grim, a doctoral chemistry student at UCF, is developing new methods to analyze complex semen mixtures in forensic samples.

“Bulk mixture analysis can be very challenging because we have to contend with shared alleles, multiple contributors, and artifacts such as stutter,” she says.

She explained how her research focuses on isolating single sperm cells, allowing the recovery of clear, single-source DNA profiles and reducing complications from epithelial cells.

Her team developed workflows for both autosomal Short Tandem Repeat (STR) and Y-chromosome Short Tandem Repeat (Y-STR) profiling, using direct amplification and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) techniques to maximize DNA recovery. For mixed samples, single-cell clustering creates composite profiles to identify individual contributors even when only a few cells are available.

“Using this approach, we were able to accurately reconstruct profiles from mixtures containing two to four donors,” she says.

Grim’s research also uses magnetic beads to separate sperm from epithelial cells and an AI system to quickly identify sperm on slides.

“The AI system allowed us to scan large slides in under 30 minutes and document every cell for targeted analysis,” Grim says.

These methods enabled recovery of single-source profiles from samples up to 143 hours post coitus, which is about a day beyond standard collection guidelines.

“This work opens new possibilities for analyzing complex mixtures and extended interval postcoital samples,” she says.

FDLE’s Deputy Director of Forensic Services, Leigh Clark, also presented current examples and impacts on cases regarding familial search and forensic-investigative genetic genealogy (FIGG) during the colloquium and shared how meaningful it was to hear directly from UCF researchers and how their work connects to the needs she hears from professionals every day in the field.

Ashley Garner, FDLE Crime Laboratory Analyst Supervisor, offered students an inside look at the evolution of sexual assault kit processing from someone who has spent more than two decades in the laboratory.

A student touring the crime lab takes a closer look at the tools used by professional forensic scientists during the open house.

Throughout the open house portion of the day, students explored the FDLE crime lab, met analysts, and gained firsthand exposure to the environments where evidence is processed for criminal justice. For many, the experience deepened their understanding of how classroom concepts translate into real investigative impact.

The partnership between UCF and FDLE continues to strengthen the connection between research, training, and practice, ensuring that the next generation of forensic scientists are well-prepared for the work ahead to keep communities safe.