MVA SCIENTIFIC CONSULTANTS EXPANDS SAMPLE PREPARATION CAPABILITIES

MVA Scientific Consultants has recently acquired a JEOL SM-09010 Cross Section Polisher. This equipment will enhance MVA’s current preparation techniques by allowing the preparation of sample sections that are polished to a mirrored surface with a single step and with a minimum of sample damage. The SM-09010 Cross Section Polisher produces cross sections created by an ion beam that mills almost any material, including soft materials (copper, aluminum gold, solder, polymers) and more difficult- to-cut materials (ceramics and glass).

Congratulations to MVA Scientific Consultants'
WHITNEY HILL 2008 AAFS Award Recipient

MVA’s Whitney Hill has been named a recipient of the 2008 Emerging Forensic Scientist
(EFS) Award given by the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS). Whitney will be presented the award at the AAFS February 2009 61st Anniversary meeting in Denver, CO.
Whitney recently spoke at the February AAFS meeting in Washington about Forensic Applications of the Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM).

Whitney presented research of how the TEM can be instrumental in forensic trace evidence analyses. According to Whitney, “TEM is rarely used as an analytical tool in forensic science. However, it can be very useful in this area because of its ability to analyze the morphology of small particles, gather elemental composition information on very small particles because of its
beam concentration ability, and determine the internal structure of particles, whether crystalline or amorphous, via electron diffraction. Using TEM in forensic science trace evidence examinations can augment other analysis tools by gathering morphological, elemental and internal structure information on very small particles that may be overlooked or not easily analyzed using other microscopical techniques.”