CINA

George Mason’s outdoor forensic research lab hosts guest researchers from Louisiana HBCU

Colleen Rich — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 17:23:31 +0000

George Mason’s outdoor forensic research lab hosts guest researchers from Louisiana HBCU Colleen Rich Wed, 11/13/2024 - 12:23

It wasn’t the glut of unsightly maggots blanketing every inch of the large pig’s carcass from head to toe, but the combination of that and the unforgiving smell amid the stifling heat that initially gave student Brittney Sylvester reason for pause.

SUNO students Brittney Sylvester and LaTavia Williams examine the burial site of the decomposing pig they buried earlier this summer. Photo by Eduardo Macedo/Office of University Branding

A senior forensic science and mathematics double major, Sylvester was part of a team from Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO), who came to Northern Virginia this past summer for a program that paired aspiring scientists from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other minority-serving institutions with George Mason experts in Criminal Investigations and Network Analysis (CINA) Center.

This 10-week program, DHS Summer Research Team Program for Minority Serving Institutions, ran from June through August and was funded by a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grant to meet critical research needs in the national security realm, while also diversifying the criminal justice system.

Sylvester, an aspiring pathologist, was eager to gain hands-on experience in forensic science and was drawn by the chance to engage in the kind of experiential learning that no textbook could provide. The experience included the opportunity to engage in research with some of the nation’s most renowned forensic scientists and work in George Mason’s five-acre Forensic Science Research and Training Laboratory on the Science and Technology Campus, one of just 10 locations in the world capable of performing transformative outdoor research in forensic science using human donors.

More popularly known as the “body farm,” and the only one of its kind in the Mid-Atlantic region, the lab opened its doors in Spring 2021 and received its first human donors this past May.

It was the kind of opportunity Sylvester had always dreamed of.

SUNO Associate Professor Meiko Thompson discusses the significance of the forensic research opportunities for HBCUs, while students LaTavia Williams and Brittney Sylvester listen in the background. Photo by Eduardo Macedo/Office of University Branding

“My work on George Mason’s body farm allowed me to see firsthand how a body decomposes based on the environment, as well as the effects of nudity, clothing, or other covering,” Sylvester said. “This unique research experience has given me the confidence to push past my comfort zone and fully immerse myself in forensics.”

LaTavia Williams, a SUNO senior double majoring in forensic science and biology, also came to George Mason to deepen her knowledge and hands-on experience in forensic science.

“We are actively learning to build skills and learn more—not only about forensics and decomposition, but the environmental, entomological, microbiological, and anthropological aspects, which are crucial to our research,” added Williams, who wants to become a forensic pathologist.

Joining Sylvester and Williams was SUNO Associate Professor of Forensic Science Meiko Thompson, who served as the principal investigator (PI) on the research assisted by George Mason’s Georgia Williams, an assistant professor in the Forensic Science Program who served as the project’s science mentor.

Thompson said SUNO is one of just seven HBCUs with forensic science programs. She finds collaborations with lab sites like the one at George Mason are valuable for HBCU students, not only for educational purposes, but also for networking, as they worked alongside George Mason students and faculty members who are highly regarded and experienced professionals in forensic science.

The SUNO contingent and George Mason's forensic science team—Georgia Williams, Mary Ellen O'Toole, Emily Rancourt, and Molly Kilcarr—stand in front of the Forensic Science Research Training Laboratory. Photo by Eduardo Macedo/Office of University Branding

“This was an incredible opportunity to be at the forefront of scientific research, especially for minority researchers,” Thompson said.

Throughout their weeks working on the body farm the SUNO students were assisted by George Mason Forensic Science Associate Professor Emily Rancourt and two of her students, Nickolyn Jackson and Molly Kilcarr, who were also conducting research on human and pig decomposition. While their projects were different, these students’ collaborative spirits and shared efforts enhanced both projects, providing them with an unforgettable, one-of-a-kind research experience.

During the program, the aspiring scientists took daily samples, measurements, and pictures. Each visit brought more anticipation than the last as they discovered new smells, new organisms, and new plant growth, all the collective result of the decomposing body becoming part of the soil. Each day’s data was recorded and samples immediately frozen to accurately record the decomposition.

Mary Ellen O’Toole, a former FBI agent profiler and director of the Forensic Science Program at George Mason, often visited the students onsite.

“[LaTavia and Brittney] had no idea they would be transformed after a few weeks at the body farm,” O’Toole said. “They seemed more confident, sure of themselves, and absolutely fearless of the work they were doing. As time passed, they showed no hesitation about being around the wild assortment of bugs they had to touch and move, or the pig they buried and had to swab every day. Their curiosity and excitement about everything they were doing was infectious.”

The SUNO students presented their research findings, and their collaboration with George Mason will continue. Thompson and Williams submitted a follow-on proposal to CINA to complete their analysis and submit their research findings, and they are hopeful the future of this research will assist DHS in its national and transnational work to combat crime and terrorism.

Led by George Mason, the CINA Center is funded by the DHS Science and Technology Directorate’s Office of University Programs to unite leading experts and researchers to pursue multidisciplinary approaches to disrupt criminal activities across both physical and cyber spaces. George Mason is one of nine within the DHS Centers of Excellence, making it a perfect fit for the SUNO contingent because of its commitment to the advancement of science with cutting-edge solutions.

“This experience has shown me that I’m capable and stronger than I believed before I arrived,” Sylvester said. “As Professor Rancourt told me, ‘As long as your curiosity outweighs your fears, you can accomplish anything.’ I will carry this wisdom with me from now on.”

Want to learn more about the "body farm" and crime scene research? Listen to Mary Ellen O'Toole on the Access to Excellence podcast.

Listen to the episode

Learn more about the lab

Topics

Students

Forensic Science Research and Training Laboratory

Research

CINA

College of Science

Forensic Science Program

Exhibit highlights the vulnerability of forgotten digital information

Melanie Balog — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 14:55:49 +0000

Exhibit highlights the vulnerability of forgotten digital information Melanie Balog Thu, 03/10/2022 - 09:55

Not many artists need to consult a lawyer before undertaking their latest creative project, but that's what designer Michael McDermott had to do before pulling together his first show using discarded cell phones.

One of the installations from this ongoing project, "Undeleted," is on exhibit through March 25 in the Buchanan Hall Gallery on ��AV’s Fairfax Campus, where McDermott is an assistant professor in the School of Art.

In "Undeleted," McDermott curates content found on seven discarded cell phones. The exhibit displays two kinds of found data, intact and deleted—or what people had hoped they had deleted. He said the prints used in the exhibit show only a fraction of what he was able to extract from the phones, which held a total of 221,074 images and 30,958 texts. Since he started the project, McDermott said he has purchased about 400 phones.

Curator Michael McDermott, Assistant Professor at Mason, stands at his exhibit, “Undeleted,” at Buchanan Hall. “Undeleted” displays a sample of data from old phones, creating portraits that invites the viewer to questions whether the phone’s previous owner is them. Photo by: Shelby Burgess/Strategic Communications

"Undeleted" is a bit unusual for an art installation as it is one of five art and design projects funded in part by the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI), which is a network of industry, higher education, and economic development partners across the Commonwealth of Virginia focused on cybersecurity research.

McDermott said inspiration for the project came from a CCI presentation he attended given by Jim Jones of the Criminal Investigations and Network Analysis Center (CINA), a multidisciplinary academic consortium led by Mason that pursues strategies to advance criminal network analysis, forensics, and investigative processes.

"[Jones] gave a presentation about digital forensics and recovering information from cell phones," said McDermott. "He was talking about the law enforcement angle, but it gave me some ideas."

After the presentation, McDermott met with Jones and pitched his idea. Not only did Jones help with technical questions, he was also able to get McDermott access to XRY, the mobile forensics and data recovery software he uses to extract information from the phones.

But McDermott admits many of the phones didn't present much of a challenge in terms of extracting information.

"People think because the screen is broken or the battery is dead, that the phone is dead," he said. "But everything is still there, you just need a different battery."

As an example, he talks about one of the phones he bought that had been used for one week as a burner phone by a drug dealer in California. Although the phone was only used for a week, it contained a surprising amount of information about the person, including where she lived and that she was in bad relationship.

"In seven days, you're getting all this drama," he said.

Michael McDermott's “Undeleted” exhibit displays a sample of data from old phones, creating portraits that invites the viewer to questions whether the phone’s previous owner is them. Photo by Shelby Burgess/Strategic Communications

While that phone is in the exhibit, viewers will have difficulty identifying it because McDermott is careful to protect people's information—even if they weren't so careful with it themselves.

Part of the reason McDermott consulted a lawyer was in case he found illicit content. He also talked to people at Mason and got waivers for things he might find.

"I purchased the phone, so I own that 'thing,'" McDermott said of the legal ramifications of the work. "[The lawyer] said ‘Before you start doing this, you need to decide what you're going do in this situation.’ Of course, I'll give it to the police."

Fortunately, he found nothing illicit aside from the aforementioned drug-dealing. "There were definitely private things you wouldn't want seen," he said.

But that is part of the reason he is glad this show is on a college campus.

"[College students] live on their phones, and they might not think about what happens when they sell the phone or just get rid of it," McDermott said.

CCI Executive Director Luiz DaSilva said he hopes the "Undeleted" exhibit helps people look at cybersecurity from a new perspective.

“The CCI Building Bridges Arts and Design Collaboration Program is intended to spark a fresh understanding of cybersecurity and show how cybersecurity is woven into our daily lives," said DaSilva. "Michael’s project shines a light on basic and very important data protection steps that we often forget to take.”

The closing reception for "Undeleted" is Thursday March 24, from 6 to 8 p.m. in Buchanan Hall.

Topics

Campus News

Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI)

School of Art

CINA

Research

College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA)

Tech Talent Investment Pipeline (TTIP)

Mason climbs in research funding behind computer science, social sciences, and engineering

Colleen Rich — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 20:48:59 +0000

Mason climbs in research funding behind computer science, social sciences, and engineering Colleen Rich Wed, 02/17/2021 - 15:48

Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

��AV has made significant gains in research funding over the past year, buoyed by programs in social sciences and computer and information sciences that are ranked in the top 10 among public universities.

Total research funding for Mason in fiscal year 2019 was $186 million—up from $149 million in 2018 and 86th among all public universities. That puts Mason well ahead of its pace to meet its goal of $225 million by 2025.

The latest figures released last week by the National Science Foundation (NSF) show Mason’s national profile continues to rise through solid research funding in critical areas.

Leading the way were:

Social Sciences, which ranked 9th among all universities nationally, 7th among public universities and No. 1 in Virginia.
Computer and Information Sciences, which ranked 12th among all universities, 8th among public institutions and No. 1 in Virginia.
Engineering, which Mason entered the top 100 nationally, now at No. 93, jumping 49 spots from 142 in 2018, 69th among public universities.

Some of the long-term projects funded in FY 2019 that have helped position Mason as a leader in several fields include the following:

Mason was awarded $15 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to establish a Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN) Coordinating and Translation Center. Part of the NIH’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative, which aims to speed scientific solutions to stem the national opioid public health crisis, the center draws on faculty from the Schar School of Policy and Government and College of Humanities and Social Sciences to manage logistics, engage with practitioners and other key stakeholders in the justice and behavioral health fields, and disseminate key findings.
The Criminal Investigations and Network Analysis Center (CINA) is a multidisciplinary academic consortium led by Mason that pursues innovative strategies and solutions to advance criminal network analysis, forensics, and investigative processes. Faculty from a number of Mason schools and colleges were awarded grants in FY 2019 to support research into human trafficking hubs, digital forensics, money laundering and cryptocurrency, and geospatial analysis and transnational criminal organizations.
Mason’s Program on Climate & Health—a program of Mason’s Center for Climate Change Communication—organized the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health. The consortium is informing the American public and policymakers about the health harms of climate change and air pollution from fossil fuels, which threaten everyone— especially children, the elderly, low-income communities and certain communities of color—and about the health benefits of climate solutions.
The Rapid Prototyping Research Center in the Volgenau School of Engineering is developing highly reliable and versatile networking and communications technology for the Department of Defense. Among its capabilities, this new technology allows warfighters to transmit precise and secure position, navigation, and timing information on the battlefield when traditional satellite-based GPS and similar systems become degraded or unavailable. Such information is essential to coordinate battlefield assets and launch precision weapons.
Volgenau’s Learning Agents Center is developing a novel decision-support system for the Department of Defense and intelligence community. Intelligence analysts are frequently presented with vast amounts of imprecise and uncertain data about crises around the world. The analysts develop recommendations for decision makers that guide U.S. military and diplomatic actions. Using artificial intelligence (AI) and other powerful technologies, this decision-support system helps analysts rapidly generate and evaluate many plausible recommendations.
Today’s cyber defenses are largely static. Mason’s Center for Secure Information Systems has developed Adaptive Cyber Defense technologies for the Department of Defense. These technologies force adversaries to continually re-assess, re-engineer and re-launch their cyber attacks. Adversaries are presented with optimized and dynamically changing attack surfaces and system configurations, significantly increasing the attacker’s workloads and decreasing the likelihood of a successful attack.

“Volgenau School researchers have had extraordinary success in increasing research expenditures in FY2019, with engineering expenditures rising 129% to more than $36 million, and computing and information sciences expenditures rising 67% to more than $31 million,” said Kenneth Ball, dean of Mason’s Volgenau School of Engineering. “The opportunities created by this research funding for our students is phenomenal, reflecting the enormous value of being an R1 institution for our educational mission. Congratulations are due to all of our colleagues throughout Mason. This is a team effort and all Mason faculty, staff, and students have contributed to this success.”

“We are tremendously proud of the faculty research accomplishments that are recognized through Mason’s sustained ranking at #9 in the country in social science research,” said Ann Ardis, dean of Mason’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences. “I offer my congratulations to everyone who contributed to this national recognition.”

Overall the university moved up 11 spots to No. 122 in total research and development (R&D) for public and private universities in NSF’s 2019 Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey.

The HERD survey is the primary source of information on R&D expenditures at U.S. universities and colleges, and collects information by field of research and source of funds. In FY2019, more than 900 universities responded to the survey.

Topics

Campus News

National Science Foundation

Rankings

Research

CINA

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Volgenau School of Engineering

Schar School of Policy and Government

Kerry Riddle is December Employee of the Month

Colleen Rich — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 10:44:41 +0000

Kerry Riddle is December Employee of the Month Colleen Rich Tue, 12/01/2020 - 05:44

Topics

Employee of the Month

CINA

DHS Center of Excellence in Criminal Investigation and Network Analysis

Faculty and Staff News

CINA Center of Excellence names Jim Jones as its new director

John Hollis — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 10:00:00 +0000

CINA Center of Excellence names Jim Jones as its new director John Hollis Tue, 02/18/2020 - 05:00

Jim Jones, associate professor in the ECE department
Photo by Ron Aira/Creative Services/George Mason
University

Jim Jones has been named the new director of George Mason University’s Criminal Investigations and Network Analysis (CINA) Center.

Jones, an associate professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department within the Volgenau School of Engineering, succeeds CINA’s founding director Tony Stefanidis, who relocated to the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, earlier this year and remains affiliated with the center. As the new director of CINA, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Center of Excellence, Jones will work with DHS stakeholders to develop CINA’s strategic vision, outreach program, and research portfolio.

“CINA’s mission is to be at the forefront of criminal network analysis, forensics, and investigative processes in order to solve the hard problems of today and to forecast and address the problems and challenges of tomorrow,” Jones said in a statement. “We work closely with DHS components to understand current needs and operational environments, turning problems into ideas and fielded solutions.”

“Jim brings a strong background into this leadership role for the CINA Center,” said Deborah Crawford, Mason’s vice president for research, innovation, and economic impact. “The lead university in the CINA consortium, Mason is a top-tier research institution with a strong commitment to advancing research with significant societal impact. Our proximity to Washington, D.C., also allows us to connect our robust research enterprise and student workforce pipeline to a full range of industry professionals, DHS components, and preeminent researchers from government agencies.”

The CINA Center leverages a core science committee—as well as a nationwide network of partners and colleagues throughout academia, industry, and law enforcement–to assess emerging technologies and potential solutions. Jones has served as a member of CINA’s science committee since the center was established, was a principal investigator of one of the center’s first funded projects, and placed its first CINA scholar interns.

Jones has served as cybersecurity and digital forensics practitioner, researcher, and educator for more than 25 years in various industry, government, and academic roles.

“Transnational Criminal Organizations are complex, dynamic, and ever-evolving,” he said. “I look forward to continuing our collective mission, to help DHS successfully address today’s current threats while working to stay ahead of the homeland security challenges of tomorrow.”

For more information on Mason’s CINA Center, please visit the center’s website.

Jim Jones

admin_alpha — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 23:27:01 +0000

Jim Jones admin_alpha Tue, 10/20/2015 - 19:27

Associate Professor Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Contact Information

Phone: 703-993-5599
Campus: Fairfax and Mason Square (formerly Arlington Campus)
Building: Nguyen Engineering
Room 3253, VSH 1305

Email: jjonesu@gmu.edu

Biography

Jim Jones has been a cyber security and digital forensics practitioner, researcher, and educator for over 30 years in industry, government, and academia. That experience drives his teaching, which blends theory and practical applications, and his research, which focuses on the extraction, analysis, and manipulation of full and partial digital artifacts. Jim, his colleagues, and his students spend their days and nights examining digital systems of all types to understand how data persists and decays on these systems, and how such behavior and data can be used, manipulated, and verified to find malware infections and compromised systems, detect system and device misuse, link disparate devices and entities, effect and detect deception activities, and recover lost data.

Jim's research funding comes from industry and the US Government. Past and current funded research sponsors include the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the United States Department of Defense (DoD). He has degrees in Industrial Engineering (Bachelor's), Mathematical Sciences (Master's), and Computational Sciences and Informatics (PhD). This formal education is complemented by work experience and extensive self-learning, driven by an insatiable curiosity and a desire to know how things work, how they break, and what we can learn from both.

Research

2018 - 2020: Digital Media Sector Hashing for Evidence Correlation. Funded by the DHS CINA center.

2018 - 2020: Cyber P3 Scholarship Program. Funded by NSA/P3.

2018 - 2019: Software Penetration Testing. Funded by Progeny Systems.

2018 - 2019: Scientific Advances to Continuous Insider Threat Evaluation (SCITE). Funded by IARPA.

2018: Network Topology Discovery. Funded by Progeny Systems.

2018: Distributed System Pattern Discovery Using Time Series Discords. Funded by Vectare Engineering.

2017-2027: DHS Center of Excellence for Criminal Investigations and Network Analysis (CINA). Funded by DHS.

2017: Information Assurance Research for Wireless Mediums. Funded by Vectare Engineering.

2016-2017: Cyber-Physical Security Labs for USAR Cyber Soldier Development. Funded by NSA/P3.

2016-2017: Inferring Past Mobile Device Activity from Partial Digital Artifacts. Funded by Naval Postgraduate School.

2016: Persistence and Extraction of Digital Artifacts from Embedded Systems. Funded by the University of Maryland.

2013 - 2016: Reasoning for Digital Artifact Association, Attribution, and Integrity. Funded by Naval Postgraduate School.

Research Interests

Computer and Network Security, Digital Forensics

Degrees

PhD, Computational Sciences and Informatics, ��AV
MS, Mathematical Sciences, Clemson University
B, Industrial Engineering, Georgia Tech

CINA

George Mason’s outdoor forensic research lab hosts guest researchers from Louisiana HBCU

Learn more about the lab

Related News

Topics

Exhibit highlights the vulnerability of forgotten digital information

Topics

Mason climbs in research funding behind computer science, social sciences, and engineering

Topics

Kerry Riddle is December Employee of the Month

Topics

CINA Center of Excellence names Jim Jones as its new director

Jim Jones

Contact Information

Biography

Research

Research Interests

Degrees