Presentations & Awards

• Wolfs, A. C. F., Goldfarb, D.A., Hyman Gregory, A. & Schreiber Compo, N. (2020, March). A questionnaire of current witness interviewing practices in the US. Paper presented at the 2020 Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS) (New Orleans, LA).
• Sneyd, D. E., Wolfs, A. C. F., Vallano, J. P., & Schreiber Compo, N. (2020, March). Rapport maintenance and its influence on adult witness recall. Paper presented at the 2020 Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS) (New Orleans, LA)

• “Comprehensive analysis of synthetic cannabinoids and metabolites in oral fluid by online SPE and LC-QqQ-MS” Carmen Mulet
• "The implementation of a method for rapid direct PCR on diluted saliva” Mallory Baud

• Wolfs, A. C. F., Sneyd, D. E., Vallano, J. P., & Schreiber Compo, N. (2019, March). An experimental examination of rapport-building and maintenance on cooperative adult witness recall. Paper presented at the 2019 Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS) (Portland, OR).
• Pena, M.M., Schreiber Compo, N., Stoiloff, S., & Pacheco, I. (2019, March). Cognitive bias in forensic sciences: The role of examiner experience and stimulus material. Poster presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), Portland, OR.
• Pena, M.M., Schreiber Compo, N., Stoiloff, S., & Pacheco, I. (2019, March). Experts' versus novices' perceptions of fingerprint evidence. Poster presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), Portland, OR.
• Sneyd, D., Schreiber Compo, N., Rivard, J., Pena, M., N., Stoiloff, S., Pacheco, I., & Fadul, T. (March, 2019). Quality of lay persons‘ assessments of shoeprints. Paper presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), Portland, OR.

• “Comprehensive analysis of synthetic cannabinoids and metabolites in oral fluid (OF) by online solid phase extraction (SPE) and Liquid chromatography/triple quadruple/mass spectrometry LC-QqQ-MS” Carmen Mulet 
• “The implementation of a method for rapid direct PCR on diluted saliva” Mallory Baud

• Hagsand, A.V., Evans, J. R., & Schreiber Compo, N. (2018, September). Alcohol-intoxicated witnesses, victims and suspects: Procedures and prevalence according to police officers in Sweden. The 7th Nordic Police Seminar (Umeå, Sweden).
• Hagsand, A. V., Schreiber Compo, N., Evans, R., & Mindthoff, A. (2018, June). Consistency of information reported across repeated interviews with alcohol-intoxicated witnesses. Paper presented at the Conference of the European Association of Psychology and Law (EAPL) (Turku, Finland).
• Hagsand, A.V., Mindthoff, A., Evans, R., & Schreiber Compo, N. (2018, June). Alcohol’s effect on immediate and future orientation as measured by the Considerations of Future Consequences Scale. Paper presented at the Conference of the European Association of Psychology and Law (EAPL) (Turku, Finland).

• Wolfs, A. C. F., Sneyd, D. E., Schreiber Compo, N., Vallano, J. P., Briggs, A., Slapinski, K., Kuzminski, C., & Reynolds, S. (March, 2018). Does rapport increase suggestibility resistance for adult eyewitnesses? Poster presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), Memphis, TN.
• Pena, M.M., Schreiber Compo, N., & Lezcano, S. (2018, March). Effects of blind interviewing and interview contact on nonverbal behavior and witness recall. Paper presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), Memphis, TN.
• Sneyd, D., Schreiber Compo, N., Rivard, J., Pena, M., N., Stoiloff, S., Pacheco, I., & Fadul, T. (March, 2018). Quality of lay persons‘ assessments of forensically relevant stimuli. Poster presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), Memphis, TN.
• Rivard, J. R., Sneyd, D., Pena, M. M., Schreiber Compo, N., Stoiloff, S., Pacheco, I., & Fadul, T. (March, 2018). The effects of a prior examiner’s status and findings on lay examiners’ shoeprint match decisions. Paper presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), Memphis, TN.
• Altman, C., Schreiber Compo, N., Slapinski, K., Leszczynski, H., Reynolds, S., Kuzminski, C., Briggs, A., & Cervera, J. (March, 2018). Show me one or six? A field study examining how lineup format affects real-world intoxicated witnesses’ identification performance. Paper presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), Memphis, TN.

• Hagsand, A. V., Schreiber Compo, N., Evans, J. R., Wolfs, A., & Jafary, A. M. (2017, May). Reliability of handheld versus benchtop measurement instruments used to assess breath alcohol concentration. Paper presented at the 6th Annual Forensic Science Symposium of the International Forensic Research Institute Symposium (IFRI), Miami, FL.
• Hagsand, A. V., Schreiber Compo, N., Fernandez, M., Bittencourt, L., Wolfs, A., Jafary, A. M, & Evans, J. R. (2017, May). Which interviewing approach is most efficient when asking intoxicated witnesses questions about a crime? Paper presented at the 6th Annual Forensic Science Symposium of the International Forensic Research Institute Symposium (IFRI), Miami, FL.

Hagsand, A.V., Evans, J.R., Schreiber Compo, N., Rodriguez, Z., & Dominguez, J. (2017, July). In vino veritas: Alcohol intoxicated person’s willingness to report unethical or criminal behaviour carried out by themselves or others. Paper presented at the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group (iIIRG) conference, Monterey Bay, CA.

• Pena, M.M. & Schreiber Compo, N. (March, 2017). Blind versus Informed Interviewing: The importance of visual access to nonverbal behavior. Paper presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), Seattle, WA.
• Hagsand, A., Wolfs, A., Diamond, O., Jafary, A., Schreiber Compo, N., & Evans, R. (March, 2017). The effect of alcohol, and investigative interviewing approach on witness recall of an interactive event. Paper presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), Seattle, WA.
• Altman, C., Schreiber Compo, N., Hagsand, A., McQuiston, D., & Cervera, J. (March, 2017). Over the limit: Highly intoxicated witnesses’ ability to recall an event. Paper presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), Seattle, WA.

• "Evaluation of a new technology for the collection of breath components in the detection of marijuana use" (poster presentation) D’Nisha D. Hamblin, Bruce A. Benner, Jr., Michele M. Schantz, William A. MacCrehan and José R. Almirall
• "Novel blood protein modification assay for retrospective detection of drug exposure. (platform presentation) Supported by NIJ 2015-NE-BX-K001. DeCaprio A.P., Gilliland, R.A., and Moller, C. 
• "A.P. Method validation using multiple compound mixtures for screening/confirmation of 800+ novel psychoactive substances by LC-QqQ-MS" (platform presentation) Supported by NIJ 2014-R2-CX-K006. Kimble, A.N., Arroyo-Mora, L., and DeCaprio A.P.
• "Separation of chemically similar and isobaric novel psychoactive substances using two-dimensional liquid chromatography." (poster presentation) Supported by NIJ 2014-R2-CX-K006. Eckberg, M., Arroyo-Mora, L., Stoll, D.R., and DeCaprio, A.P.
• "LC-MS/MS based analysis of in vitro covalent modifications of glutathione and peptide thiols by drugs of abuse" (poster presentation) Supported by NIJ 2015-NE-BX-K001. Gilliland, R.A., Moller, C., and DeCaprio, A.P. 
• "Optimal Headspace Extraction for the Detection of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) Released from Synthetic Cathinones using Solid Phase Micro-Extraction (SPME) for Field Application" (poster presentation) Vanquilla Shellman
• "Characterization of controlled odor mimic permeation systems (COMPS) containing live training aids for utilization by detection canines" (oral presentation) Alison G. Simon and Kenneth G. Furton
• "Greenhouse evaluations of volatile plant defense against an invasive agricultural and environmental biothreat agent, Rafaela lauricola, and possible implications for canine detection" (poster presentation) Alison G. Simon and Kenneth G. Furton 
• "Capsule Phase Microextraction: An Ideal Sample Preparation Technique for Environmental and Biological Samples" (poster presentation) Rodolfo Mesa
• "Utilization of Controlled Odor Mimic Devices to Improve Law Enforcement Canine Training" (poster presentation) Alice Boone
• "Instrumental chromatographic separation techniques for forensic analysis: Application to the analysis of emerging drugs" Dr. Bruce McCord, Ira Lurie and Chip Walls
• "The Evaluation of Mono-, Di-, and Trivalent Cations for the Optimized Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) Enhancement to Detect Synthetic Cannabinoids in Biological Samples” (poster presentation) Thaddeus Mostowtt, Chiara Deriu, Jonathan Munoz, Bruce McCord
• "A New Approach Combining In Silico and High-Resolution Melt (HRM) Analysis to Quickly Identify New Loci for Body Fluid Identification Using DNA Methylation Melt Analysis” (oral presentation) Joana Antunes, Vanessa Aguiar-Pulido, Kuppareddi Balamurugan, George T. Duncan, Giri Narasimhan, Bruce R. McCord
• "Ultrahigh speed PCR: a method for obtaining STR based genotypes in 8 minutes or less" (presentation) Georgiana Gibson-Daw, Bruce McCord
• "Gold Nanoparticle/Aptamer-Based Paper Microfluidic Devices Developed for the Detection of Cocaine" (poster presentation) Ling Wang, Bruce McCord
• "Rapid and reliable validation of body fluids using paper microfluidic devices" (poster presentation) Rosa Cromarte, Ashley Wardlow, George Duncan, Bruce McCord 
• "A method for optimizing pressure-based extraction and direct PCR of simulated sexual assault samples" (poster presentation) Meghan Roig, Vanessa Martinez, Deepthi Nori, Bruce McCord
• “Assessment of the F-108 Polymer and Capillary Electrophoresis Single-Strand Conformational Polymorphism to Screen Human DNA Mixtures" (poster presentation) Deidra Jordan

• Altman, C., Schreiber Compo, N., McQuiston, D., Hagsand, A. Cervera, J. Gonzalez, R., & St. Flour, O. (2016, March). Drunk but not blind: The effects of high alcohol doses on eyewitness identification. Paper presented at the 5th Annual Forensic Science Symposium of International Forensic Research Institute Symposium, Florida International University, Miami, FL.
• Hoogesteyn, K., Schreiber Compo, N., Powell, M., & Pena, M.(2016, March). Interviewing intoxicated witnesses: Should they be interviewed immediately or when sober? Paper presented at the 5th Annual Forensic Science Symposium of International Forensic Research Institute Symposium, Florida International University, Miami, FL.
• Gonzalez, R., Altman, C., Schreiber Compo, N. (2016, March). How much is too much? The effects of real-‐world intoxication levels on witness precision and certainty. Paper presented at the 5th Annual Forensic Science Symposium of the International Forensic Research Institute Symposium, Florida International University, Miami, FL.

• Hagsand, A., Evans, J., Schreiber Compo, N., Arcuri, E., Hoogesteyn, K., Diamond, O., & Angel, C. (2016, September). To tell or not to tell, that is the question: The effect of alcohol on willingness to disclose one’s own transgressions versus someone else’s transgressions. Paper presented at the 11th annual meeting of the Nordic Network for Research on Psychology and Law (NNPL) (Uppsala, Sweden).
• Shaffer, S.A., Schreiber Compo, N., Klemfuss, J.Z., & Mejias, J. (2016, June). Comparison of suspect interviewing techniques in non-sexual child abuse: Physical abuse, neglect, and shaken baby syndrome. Paper presented at the Ninth Annual Conference of the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group, Buckinghamshire, London, U.K.

• Hirn Mueller, D.& Schreiber Compo, N. (March, 2016). The impact of post-recall feedback on subsequent source-monitoring accuracy, confidence, and perceived rapport. Paper presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), Atlanta, GA.
• Kieckhaefer, J. M., Sanchez, D., Kendrick, K., Ross, S. J., Vallano, J. P., Schreiber Compo, N., Delcorto, V., Hoogesteyn, K., Kaur, G., Kunzle, G., Martin, J., Martinez, V., Molina, P., Pena, X., & Ramos, J. (March, 2016). Getting them to talk: Does rapport-building increase individuals’ likelihood to share secret offenses and speak to the interviewer? Paper presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), Atlanta, GA.
• Hoogesteyn, K.D., Schreiber Compo, N., Powell, M., *Pena, M., Carol, R. & Evans, J.R. (March, 2016). Interviewing intoxicated witnesses: The effects of state-dependent retrieval and delay. Paper presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), Atlanta, GA.
• Carol, R. N., Kieckhaefer, J., & Schreiber Compo, N. (March, 2016). Being a good witness: Rapport-building’s effect on eyewitness recall and the potential roles of benevolence, altruism, and working memory. Paper presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), Atlanta, GA.
• Altman, C. M., Schreiber Compo, N., McQuiston, D., Hagsand, A., Gonzalez, R., Cervera, J., & Saint-Flour, O. (March, 2016). How much is too much? The effects of real-world intoxication levels on eyewitness identifications. Paper presented at Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), Atlanta, GA.
• Gonzalez, R., Altman, C. M., & Schreiber Compo, N. (March, 2016). How much is too much? The effects of real-world intoxication levels on witness precision and certainty. Paper presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), Atlanta, GA.
• Rivard, J. R., Schreiber Compo, N., Diego, M., & Espinosa, S. (2016, March). Current practices in child forensic interviewing: Insights from the field. Paper presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), Atlanta, GA.
• Rivard, J. R., Schreiber Compo, N., Weisz, A., Woolf, A., & Diego, M. (March, 2016). Can interviewers remember their witness interviews? The role of pre-interview information in interviewer recall. Poster presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), Atlanta, GA.

Kieckhaefer, J. M., & Schreiber Compo, N. (2016, November). The Temporal Proximity Hypothesis: Does it matter when rapport is built in witness interviews? Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology in New Orleans, LA.

• Rivard, J. R., Schreiber Compo, N., Diego, M., & Espinosa, S.(March, 2015). Blind interviewing in the field: Forensic interviewers' practices, attitudes, and perceptions. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), San Diego, CA.
• Kieckhaefer, J. M., Molina, P., Alfonso, J., Arce, M. A., Bryon, A., Delcorto, V., Hoogesteyn, K., Jetter, J., Khawand, N., Kunzle, G., Pena, X., & Sanchez, D. & Schreiber Compo (2015, March). Understanding rapport-building in investigative interviews: Does rapport’s effect on witness recall depend on who builds it and when? Poster presented at Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), San Diego, CA.
• Sanchez, D., Kieckhaefer, J. M., Kendrick, K., Ross, S. J., Vallano, J. P., Schreiber Compo, N., Molina, P., Delcorto, V., Hoogesteyn, K., Kunzle, G., Martin, J., & Ramos, J. (2015, March). Disclosing secrets: Does rapport-building increase individuals’ likelihood to share transgressions? Paper presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), San Diego, CA.
• Hirn Mueller, D., Schreiber Compo, N., Valdes, A., Estrada, J., & Padron, K. (2015, March). Examining the impact of post-recall feedback on subsequent witness recall and confidence. Paper presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), San Diego, CA.
• Hirn Mueller, D., & Schreiber Compo, N. (2015, March). Exploring the relationship between law enforcement training and perceptions of investigative interviewing techniques. Poster presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), San Diego, CA.
• Hoogesteyn, K., Ekladios, J., Hirn Mueller, D., Schreiber Compo, N., & Martin, J. (2015, March). Law enforcement’s perceptions of best practice and problematic witness interviewing: The importance of context. Poster presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), San Diego, CA.

Pena, M. & Schreiber Compo, N., Evans, J.R., Carol, R.N., Pimentel, P., Holness, H., Furton, K., & Rose, S. (2015, May). The effects of alcohol on witnesses' precision of reporting. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Society, New York, NY.

• "Bioinformatics for the classification and provenance of soil samples for intelligence and forensic applications" Natalie Damaso and Julian Mendel
• "Evaluation of Human Scent As Possible Classification Evidence" Lauren J. Colón-Crespo
• "Forensic analysis and comparisons of white latex paints using LA-ICP-OES without matrix-matched standards" Melissa Zwilling
• "Detection of the Laurel Wilt Pathogen for the Protection of Avocado Groves" Alison G. Simon
• "Validation of Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) Profiling of Forensically Important Insects" Fanchen Bao
• "Fluorescent Random Amplified Microsatellites (F-RAMS) Analysis of Mushrooms as a Forensic Investigative Tool" Beatrice Kallifatidis
• "ParaDNA® Intelligence System Validation (USA)" Beatrice Kallifatidis and Julian Mendel
• "Breed designation for unknown equine case samples" Ketaki Deshpande and Natalie Leyva
• "Quantitative Analysis of Designer Drugs in Oral Fluid Using Liquid Chromatography Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry (LC/QQQ-MS)" Ana-Michelle J. Broomes
• "Novel Polymer for Bioseparations of Complex DNA Mixtures using Capillary Electrophoresis" Natalie Damaso

View the 2014 Symposium program

• Garcia, B., Schreiber Compo, N., Carol, R., Pimentel, P., Evans, J. R., Mikaiel, C., Pena, M., Mederos, E., Puertas, L., Altamirano, E., Jerome, A.-S., Campbell, I., Rose, S., Holness, H., & Furton, K. (2014, March). The relationship between eyewitness memory and perceived intoxication level. Paper presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), New Orleans, LA.
• Bryon, A., Kieckhaefer, J. M., & Schreiber Compo, N., Alfonso, J., Arce, M. A., Delcorto, V., Hoogesteyn, K., Jetter, J., Khawand, N., Molina, P., Pena, X., Rivas, A., & Sanchez, D. (2014, March). Does rapport-building affect non-verbal witness and interviewer behavior? Examining interviewee and interviewer behaviors and their relation to recall accuracy. Poster presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), New Orleans, LA.
• Hirn Muller, D., Schreiber Compo, N., Pimentel, P., Molina, J., & Bryon, A. (2014, March). Positive and negative investigative interviewing techniques: Do police interviewers know the difference? Paper presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), New Orleans, LA.
• Rivard, J. R., Benson, S., & Schreiber Compo, N. (2014, March). The effects of blind versus informed interviewing on eyewitness source memory. Paper to be presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), New Orleans, LA.
• Rivard, J. R., Schreiber Compo, N., Puertas, L., Castellon, S., Ferreira, L., Benitez, Y., Garcia, B., Mikaiel, C., Pena, M., & Campbell, I. (2014, March). Confirmation bias in witness interviewing: The delayed effects of pre-interview knowledge. Paper presented at the Annual American Psychology-Law Society conference (AP-LS), New Orleans, LA.

Student Academic Achievement and Service Awards 2021

IFRI Student Development Award 

Ms. Rachel Tolces (MSFS Biochemistry) - Analyzing Epigenetic Body Fluid ID using Waste with novel Recovery Strategies.

Rachel Tolces was awarded the 2021 IFRI Student development award for her project Analyzing Epigenetic Body Fluid ID using Waste with novel Recovery Strategies. 

Student Academic Achievement and Service Awards 2020

Congratulations to two of our students for their outstanding achievments!

• Hussain Alghanim: Best Dissertation Award for the School of Integrated Sciences and Humanity
• Rosa Cromarte: Outstanding Exemplery Service Award

IFRI Student Development Award
Sponsored by IFRI, the students had to write a short proposal, give a five minute ‘shark tank’ presentation and were then selected by a committee to be awarded $2,500 toward reagents, facility use, software and supplies needed to conduct their research.

• Quentin Gauthier: Development of an epigenetic panel for body fluid identification and age detection on the MiSeq RGx.
• Mirna Ghemrawi: Development of quantitative real-time assay to identify household miscellaneous biological samples using Raman technology
• Chiara Deriu: High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) for the characterization of novel functional colloidal nanomaterials for tailored application in forensic toxicology.
• Maurell Dsouza: DNA based identification of forensically important flies of the United Arab Emirates

Presidential Fellowship Award

Maria Sparacino (Legal Psychology Ph.D.)

Maria earned her B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Intelligence and National Security Studies from Coastal Carolina University in 2019. She joined Florida International University's Legal Psychology Ph.D. Program in 2020 and was awarded the Presidential Fellowship. Currently, her research focuses on the use of interpreters during interrogations and techniques to improve investigative interviews. Her other research interests include deception detection, intelligence-gathering techniques, and bias-reducing procedures. Together with Dr. Nadja Schreiber Compo Maria is working on investigating the context in which bias may or may not occur in forensic examinations.

Russel V. Ewald Award: Chantrell Frazier, received the award at the 35th McKnight Annual Fellows Meeting and 23^rd Annual Graduate School Conference for her commitment to academic excellence and community service.

NSF-Bridge to Doctorate Fellowship: Christing Mba, who will start her master's in Forensic Science program in Fall 2019

Forensic Genetics, SISG Scholarship: PhD student Amber MacInnis (Dr. Jeffrey D. Wells lab) was awarded a scholarship to attend the Forensic Genetics module of the Summer Institute of Statistical Genetics

FIU LAC Graduate Fellowship: Master's student Amaries Suarez was awarded an FIU Latin American and Caribbean Graduate Fellowship. The program is designed to promote international education and research between FIU and the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

FACSS Poster Award: Chantrell Frazier was awarded second place by the Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies (FACSS) for her poster presentation, "Human Scent Forensics: A Cross-Disciplinary Study Using SPME-GC/MS VOC Analyses and Next Generation DNA Sequencing," at the 2018 SciX Conference in Atlanta. Chantrell, who is pursuing a Biochemistry PhD with forensic concentration, is mentored by Kenneth Furton and DeEtta Mills.

FIU Outstanding Student Life Awards, Graduate Scholar Award: The Graduate Scholar Award recognizes a graduate student who has demonstrated outstanding leadership through academic achievement and/or academic research. Haixiang Yu is a change-maker with a breakthrough discovery in biochemical research that has yielded a U.S. patent, been featured in the Miami Herald and published in scientific journals such as Nucleic Acids Research, Applied Materials and Interface and Analytical Chemistry. Yu found a rapid, specific and ultra-sensitive fluorescent detection of small molecules such as biomarkers, toxins and controlled substances with excellent accuracy. This has resulted in a user-friendly field-test kit that costs less than $1 per kit. This discovery will revolutionize the ability to quickly detect even the smallest amount of cocaine and has the potential to save lives as the number of cocaine-induced seizures and overdoses has increased since 2014 and 2015 to the highest rates in the United States since 2007. Yu has achieved this all while maintaining an exceptional GPA, mentoring undergraduate students, training fellow graduate students and demonstrating a collaborative leadership style.

FSF Emerging Forensic Scientist Award: FIU Alumna D'Nisha D. Hamblin was selected as a winner for the 18th Annual Forensic Sciences Foundation (FSF) Emerging Scientist Award paper competition, hosted in New Orleans, LA, for her presentation entitled Evaluation of a New Technology for the Collection and Analysis of Breath Components for Marijuana Detection Using Capillary Microextraction of Volatiles (CMV).

FIU Provost Award for Outstanding Paper or Manuscript (STEM): PhD candidate in Chemistry and Biochemistry, Haixiang Yu, was awarded the prestigious FIU Provost Award for Outstanding Paper or Manuscript (STEM) for his paper on applied forensic chemistry entitled "A cooperative-binding split aptamer assay for rapid, specific and ultra-sensitive fluorescence detection of cocaine in saliva."

Citation: Yu H.X., Canoura J., Guntupalli B., Lou X.H. & Xiao Y.* (2017) A cooperative-binding split aptamer assay for rapid, specific and ultra-sensitive fluorescence detection of cocaine in saliva. Chem. Sci., 8, 131 – 141. (IF: 9.*144).