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Pondering PatternsThe National Academy of Sciences recommended collaboration between criminalists and engineers in its2009 report, “Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward,” and the program at California State University, Los Angeles, is conirming the wisdom of that recommendation. “The goal is to improve the scientiic underpinning of forensic science, particularly in pattern- based areas like blood spatter and trauma analysis,” says Raymond. “And my engineering students ind it excitingto learn that they can apply their engineering skills and knowledge to forensic problems. I also maintain a forensic consulting practice outside my University appointment, so this provides interesting case studies for discussion in classes.”Investigating InjuriesIn addition to his forensic research, Raymond continues to pursue research in injury prevention areas.Before joining Cal State L.A., Raymond worked at General Motors in safety and crashworthiness for four years and then for a private forensic consulting company for nine years.“Both these jobs focused on how people are injured or killed in accidents,” explains Raymond. “At GM, I designed countermeasures, while my forensic job was aimed at answering legal questions regarding injury or death as those related to forces involved in the accident.”Raymond and other Cal State L.A. researchers are now preparing to unveil an upgraded lab for head protectionresearch and advanced helmet design.The helmet testing lab is rich in history. Harry Hurt, Jr., a safety science professor from the University of Southern California, founded the Head Protection Research Laboratory of Southern California. A pioneer in the ield of motorcycle safety, Professor Hurt conducted a groundbreaking motorcycle safety study in the late ‘70s, which is still the largest U.S.-based real-world reconstruction study ever done. Researchers there set the stage for futurehelmet regulations and testing standards, responding to more than 900 motorcycle accidents in the L.A. area and reconstructing thousands more from police and medical reports.Hurt retired in the late 1990s and was allowed to take the lab with him. He operated it as a nonproit until his death in 2009. His son carried on his legacy at the lab until 2012, when he decided to close the doors and donate most of the lab to Cal State L.A.“I have had a relationship with a couple of the researchers at the lab since 2002, so that’s how it came to us,” explains Raymond. “It’s been a long road to get it installed and ready to go again. The mission of the lab remains the same – to conduct head protection research and advanced helmet design, and I’ll incorporate the lab into my biomechanics class as a hands-on teaching instrument.” •“Our blood spatter research focuses on understanding the luid dynamics involved in generating blood stain patterns in various situations,” says Raymond. “If we understand how blood stain patterns are formed, we can better reconstruct crime scenes involving them.”The blood spatter team is working on a new methodto document and analyze bloodstain patterns using photographs and image processing via a custom software program developed by undergraduate engineering students in collaboration with the criminalistics department.Preliminary results demonstrate improved accuracy in determining the area of origin of the blood and signiicantly reduced analysis time. As a noncontact method, which reduces the risk of crime scene contamination, it offers an advantage over current methods that requiresome touching.“We are also studying blood spatter from small-caliber gunshots to the head,” explains Raymond. “We are in the early stages of developing a surrogate head form so that we can better understand the blood dynamics and mechanisms associated with ballistic trauma to the human head. I can’t say much more since we hope to publish our results in the near future, but this work is important for the ield of forensics.”InSights | 15