Wednesday, April 8, 2009

SDGS Meeting on Saturday - "The Hand in the Snow"

The next San Diego Genealogical Society meeting is this Saturday, 11 April at 12 noon at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church (8350 Lake Murray Blvd. (at Jackson Drive) in San Diego).

The speaker for both parts of this meeting will be Colleen Fitzpatrick, Ph.D on the topic "The Hand in the Snow: A Different Kind of DNA Talk."

The program description says:

"Forensic scientists and genealogists share similar goals. Applying their methods can lead to unconventional discoveries from surprising sources to better understand how our ancestors lived.

"In this special presentation, Dr. Fitzpatrick will reveal how the frozen human arm and hand found at the 1948 Alaskan crash site of Northwest Flight 4422 was identified using forensic genealogy. Many of these same DNA techniques are used in genealogical research and will help researchers understand how they can help us in their research -- as well as their limitations."

Colleen's curriculum vitae:

"Colleen Fitzpatrick, Ph.D, is a Consulting Genealogist for the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory and has authored three award-winning books on genealogy. She has been recognized for work on the crash of Northwest 4422 and identifying the remains of the unknown child of the Titanic. She is a columnist for major genealogical publications and lectures at national genealogy conferences and numerous genealogical society meetings.

"Dr. Fitzpatrick was last with us in May 2006 with her remarkable presentations on 'Photo Identification' and 'Weird DNA.' Visit her web site: www.forensicgenealogy.info . You won't want to miss this program!"

I look forward to seeing Colleen again and hearing about her work in this case. I posted a link to the "CSI Alaska" article in Scientific American here.

No comments: