Introduction

Just Putrid Databases

Just Putrid Databases

← Back to Just Science Podcast

Original Release Date: June 25, 2019

In episode seven of our 2019 NIJ R&D season, Just Science interviews Dr. Audris Mockus, a Professor in the Tickle College of Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, about an Image Cloud Platform for Use in Tagging and Research on Decomposition database.

Over the last few decades, researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Forensic Anthropology Center have been photographing and cataloguing the decomposition of the subjects in their body farm. With help from Dr. Audris Mockus, they’re turning this collection into an image database for both research and forensic investigation. Listen in as Dr. Mockus discusses the database and its potential impact on both post-mortem interval estimation and our understanding of human decomposition.

Contact info for working with ARF image collection:
Prof. Dawnie Steadman
502 Strong Hall
Phone: 865-974-0909

This episode of Just Science is funded by the National Institute of Justice’s Forensic Technology Center of Excellence [Award 2016-MU-BX-K110].

Listen to or download the episode here:


Guest Biography

Dr. Audris Mockus is the Ericsson-Harlan D. Mills Chair Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of the University of Tennessee. His latest interests concern models of the entire open-source software ecosystem based on version-control data and anthropological phenomena hidden in large image collections. He is interested in recovering information and creating models of reality from big operational data. Previously, he worked at Avaya Research, AT&T, and Lucent Bell Labs. He received a Ph.D. in statistics from Carnegie Mellon University in 1994.


The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this podcast episode are those of the presenter(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Contact us at ForensicCOE@rti.org with any questions and subscribe to our newsletter for notifications.


Related Content

Improving Methods Using Machine Learning and Databases in Forensic Anthropology

← Back to Webinar Series Page This webinar originally occurred on December 5, 2023Duration: 1 hour Overview Part I: GeoFOR presented by Katherine Weisensee, Ph.D.Estimating the time since death, or the postmortem interval (PMI), poses a significant challenge to forensic…

Dental Morphology: The Informative but Lesser-Known Traits

← Back to Webinar Series Page This webinar originally occurred on February 8, 2023 Duration: 1.5 hours Overview Estimation of population affinity is a core component of the forensic anthropological biological profile. Most forensic anthropologists rely on craniometric1 and cranial…