STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Tarleton criminal justice Professional Associate Professor Katherine M. Brown received the 2023 John R. Hunt Award from the American Academy of Forensic Sciences on Feb. 15 at the organization’s annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.
The award recognizes sustained superior contributions to the General Section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) and the forensic science community.
“I am honored and humbled,” she said. “I truly feel it is a privilege to serve the academy and the profession and look forward to continuing my contributions to the field.”
Dr. Brown is a Faculty Affiliate in the Institute on Violence Against Women and Human Trafficking at Tarleton. Her research interests include child abduction murder investigation, crime scene investigation, serial murder, crime scene assessment, technology-facilitated crimes against children, and forensic evidence and other solvability factors affecting murder investigations.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in government from UT Austin and her master’s in criminal justice/criminology and PhD in police administration from Sam Houston State University.
She recently was appointed to a three-year term as a Forensic Science Foundation trustee and has been appointed a voting member of the AAFS Standards Board Crime Scene Investigation Consensus Body. The consensus body is responsible for developing, reviewing and voting on standards, best practice recommendations and technical reports in the discipline of forensic science.
Dr. Brown is an AAFS Fellow and was awarded the AAFS General Section Paul W. Kehres Meritorious Service Award in 2022. She also serves as a consultant to Child Abduction Response Teams (CARTs) across the United States. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals and books.
The AAFS is a multidisciplinary professional organization that provides leadership to advance science and its application to the legal system. Its 6,600 members represent all 50 United States and 71 other countries.
Membership is composed of pathologists, attorneys, dentists, toxicologists, anthropologists, document examiners, digital evidence experts, psychiatrists, engineers, physicists, chemists, criminalists, educators and researchers. Its objectives are to promote professionalism, integrity, competency and education, and to foster research, improve practice and encourage collaboration in the forensic sciences.
A founding member of The Texas A&M System, Tarleton State is breaking records — in enrollment, research, scholarship, athletics, philanthropy and engagement — while transforming the lives of nearly 17,000 students in Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Bryan and online. True to Tarleton’s values of excellence, integrity and respect, academic programs emphasize real world learning and address regional, state and national needs.