Our speaker will be Dr. Jarrett Farias, Senior Forensic Chemist from the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Western Laboratory in Pleasanton, CA.

DEA is contacting local colleges and universities to connect with academic faculty, undergraduate students and graduate students who have an interest in forensic chemistry and drug analysis.  Dr. Jarrett Farias will give a presentation on the work that they do in their lab and in their field, focusing on the instrumentation and analysis of controlled substances, showing examples of controlled substances and discussing how they have changed recently and how their chemical properties are used for analysis and determining structure (if they are unknown or novel substances). The talk will be about forensics as a whole, and the role of forensic chemists, and what their duties entail, including report writing and testifying in court as expert witnesses. The examples will be shown of instrument and non-instrument methods (i.e. color tests) and how they are used for conclusions that go on a final report.

Although the purpose of the visit is not recruitment, the report will cover a lot of the job duties.