Board Member

Dr. Roberts is the Director of the California Forensic Science Institute (CFSI) and Graduate Program in Criminalistics at Cal State LA. Together with Paula Mitchell, Dr. Roberts pioneered a groundbreaking partnership between CFSI and the Los Angeles Innocence Project to remedy wrongful convictions obtained by the misuse of forensic science and educate future criminalists on the causes of wrongful convictions. Dr. Roberts and her students regularly consult with LAIP attorneys on forensic issues that arise in our casework.

In addition to her teaching, Dr. Roberts is the Principal Investigator (PI) for a National Science Foundation grant to establish the Center for Interdisciplinary Forensic Science Research as a research site within the NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) program. The Center will enhance research training and education in multiple forensic science disciplines. Dr. Roberts previously served as PI for Investigations on the use of SampleMatrix™ to capture and stabilize crime scene biological samples for optimized analysis and room temperature storage (NIJ 2007–2011).

Dr. Roberts also collaborates with a consortium of European universities to develop a portable, inexpensive, and rapid method of dating latent fingerprints. Her publications include trace evidence analysis, forensic examination of sexual assault evidence, and mitochondrial DNA analysis.

She was an elected member of the Technical Working Group for Education and Training in Forensic Science (TWGED) which the National Institute of Justice convened. The Forensic Science Education Programs Accreditation Commission (FEPAC) uses the report issued by TWGED to evaluate the academic standards of undergraduate and graduate forensic science programs.