Middle Tennessee State University’s Forensic Institute for Research and Education will host forensic expert Eric Bartelink at its upcoming William Bass-Hugh Berryman Legends in Forensic Science Lectureship event.
The public is welcome to attend Bartelink’s free “Sifting through the Ashes” presentation at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 29, in the MTSU Student Union Ballroom. It will focus mainly on his work recovering and identifying victims of the major wildfires in Paradise, California, and Maui, Hawaii. Bartelink will cap off his lecture with a Q&A.
“Dr. Bartelink is one of only 120 active board-certified forensic anthropologists in the world, a professor of anthropology at California State University at Chico and one of the most respected young forensic anthropologists working in the field today,” said Thomas Holland, the institute’s director. “Much of that respect was earned from the important and sobering work he has performed in these recent massive and devastating wildfires. He is truly an unsung hero, and we’re excited to host him for the campus community.”
Bartelink said he has personally assisted on 100 burned remains cases and is a member of CSU’s Human Identification Laboratory, the lab’s team considered the go-to resource for fire victim recovery in the state of California.
Additionally, he is a fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences; has published many articles, book chapters and books related to forensic anthropology; assisted in international humanitarian recoveries and identifications for the United Nations; and helped with the World Trade Center victim identification effort in New York City.
Further, Bartelink and his team analyzed remains for the headline-making Chad Daybell murder trial, which wrapped up last year, with Bartelink even taking the stand for the prosecution. Daybell was eventually convicted of the multiple murders in Idaho in May 2024.
MTSU’s forensic institute, more commonly known as FIRE, launched the annual lectureship series in 2006 and has since showcased forensic experts in blunt trauma, false memory, crime scene investigation and more.
This year’s presentation is sponsored by FIRE, the Middle Tennessee Forensic Science Society, the Department of Political and Global Affairs, the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, the College of Liberal Arts and the Office of the University Provost.
The ballroom is located on the second floor of the Student Union Building, located at 1768 MTSU Blvd. Parking is free for the evening event. A searchable campus parking map is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParkingMap.
Call 615-494-7713 or visit https://fire.mtsu.edu/ to learn more about FIRE, housed in Room 106 of Wiser-Patten Science Hall, 422 Old Main Circle on campus.
— Stephanie Wagner (Stephanie.Wagner@mtsu.edu)
