This sixth episode of the "Just So You Know" series of the National Institute of Justice's (NIJ's) Justice Science podcasts is an interview with Heidi Eldridge about her background and work as a member of the team at the NIJ-funded Forensic Technology Center of Excellence (FTCoE).
Much of the interview is devoted to how she went from having an undergraduate degree in speech and theater to a masters degree in biology, followed by jobs that involved training and work in the forensic science field. She worked in the forensic labs of police agencies in Oregon and Las Vegas, where she did work related to controlled substances, latent prints, and crime scenes. While working in Las Vegas, she enrolled as a PhD candidate in forensic science at the University of Lausanne. While working on her PhD and serving in the crime lab in Las Vegas, her PhD professor recommended her for a position at RTI's NIJ-funded FTCoE, where she now serves as a researcher in a variety of projects. One pertains to ways in which psychiatric researchers can contribute to various issues in forensic science.