April 11, 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A Houston Forensic Science Center (HFSC) training director has been selected to lead a
U.S. delegation that is traveling in June to The Netherlands to work on developing
internationally accepted standards for the delivery of forensic science services.
Soraya McClung, HFSC’s Scientific Training Director, serves as secretary to the U.S.
Technical Advisory Group to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), an
agency that oversees the development of technology standards in the United States. As
a member of this group, Ms. McClung will represent the United States at the June
meeting of the International Standards Organization (ISO) Technical Committee on
Forensic Sciences. The United States is one of 20 countries participating in the meeting.
The committee’s goal is to create better coordination between agencies so countries can
better face the shared threat of global terrorism and other catastrophic events.
The committee has been charged with the following:
Enhancing the reliability of forensic evidence.
Establishing consistent work practices to allow forensic laboratories and agencies
from different jurisdictions to collaborate on cross-border investigations.
Creating standards that will enable agencies to coordinate and collaborate during
a catastrophic event.
Establishing mechanisms that will allow for the exchange of forensic results,
information and intelligence, including the sharing of databases.
At the June meeting, the participants will focus on developing standards for forensic
science vocabulary and evidence collection, transport and storage.
Ms. McClung has more than 20 years of forensic experience and is the former director of
the West Virginia State Police Forensic Laboratory. She served a four-year term on the
Board of Directors of the American Society of Crime Lab Directors (ASCLD.)
HFSC is a local government corporation that provides forensic services to the City of
Houston and other local agencies. HFSC is overseen by a Board of Directors appointed
by the Mayor of Houston and confirmed by the Houston City Council. Its management
structure is designed to be responsive to a 2009 recommendation by the National
Academy of Sciences that called for crime laboratories to be independent of law
enforcement and prosecutorial branches of government.
HFSC currently operates in nine forensic disciplines.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Ramit Plushnick-Masti
Public Information Officer
media@houstonforensicscience.org
713-929-6768
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