It’s May, and spring is in full bloom! Spring is a time of renewal and growth, and new life can be seen all around us. Just as seeds grow into green shoots, then into blooming flowers, the OSAC Registry has also reached a new stage of growth recently. The OSAC Registry is a repository of high-quality, technically sound published and proposed standards for forensic science. We’re excited to share that last month we added the 50th standard to it!
Administered by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as part of the Special Programs Office’s Forensic Science Program, OSAC aims to strengthen the nation’s use of forensic science by facilitating the development of technically sound standards and guidelines and encouraging their use throughout the forensic science community. OSAC’s 450-plus members and 300-plus affiliates work in forensic laboratories and other institutions around the country and have expertise in 22 forensic science disciplines, as well as scientific research, measurement science, statistics, law, and policy. These experts volunteer their time to draft and evaluate forensic science standards to ensure they are scientifically sound. It takes a diverse group of stakeholders to nurture an idea into a standard that has both scientific rigor and considers the current operating environment faced by today’s forensic service providers!