Creator: Jay Siegel

Subjects: Anniversaries, Sesquicentennial

Description: Jay Alan Siegel received all three of his chemistry degrees from George Washington University (BS in 1968, MS in 1970, and PhD in 1976). His first job after leaving the university was at a crime lab in the State of Virginia where he analyzed controlled substances and then moved on to trace evidence. He then relocated to Colorado where he taught forensic science and analytical chemistry at Metropolitan State College.

Siegel came to MSU in 1980 as an assistant professor teaching in the Department of Criminal Justice with an emphasis on forensic science. Under Ralph Turner's tutelage, he worked for a year to build the forensic science program on the campus and was instrumental in designing a new lab which eventually grew to be the best equipped forensic science lab in the country. Siegel also created a vigorous forensic science internship program with the state police which remains a premier program to this day.

Under Siegel's direction, a variety of evidence types and methods of analysis have taken shape, including new dyes to enhance fingerprints detected by lasers, new methods of analysis of explosives known as "emulsions," new varieties of so-called "designer drugs" and improved methods of hair analysis. Dr. Siegel also pioneered the development of forensic applications for a novel type of fluorescent spectroscopy, which has been used in conjunction with the Michigan State Police to help solve murder, rape and kidnapping cases.

Siegel and Professor Alvin Smucker, a biophysicist at MSU, created and patented the Trace Evidence Concentrator that was originally used to carefully remove soil from delicate nodules of plant roots but which also created other uses, especially by meticulously separating evidence such as hair, fibers, and paint chips from soil or materials vacuumed from a crime scene. "A tiny fiber or chip of paint can be crucial," he explains, "yet (this evidence is) often neglected because collecting that clue can be so difficult." The system is based on the idea that material with less density than surrounding soil particles will float apart from the dirt. Different filters further separate the remaining evidence, which comes out clean and ready for analysis in minutes rather than hours or days.

Dr. Siegel has testified for prosecution, plaintiff and defense in hundreds of cases in 12 states, federal courts and military courts. He is the author of 20 papers and numerous book chapters in forensic science. In 1992, he was invited to the Criminal Police College of China in Shenyang to lecture on forensic science and criminal justice in the United States and has appeared on "Eye to Eye with Connie Chung" as CBS's expert on the O.J. Simpson trial. Siegel is a fellow in the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Forensic Sciences. In 2004 he received the Paul Kirk award from the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Date: May 5, 2004

Collection Number: UA 3

Language: English

Rights Management: Educational use only, no other permissions given. Copyright to this resource is held by Michigan State University and is provided here for educational purposes only. It may not be reproduced or distributed in any format without written permission of the University Archives & Historical Collections, Michigan State University.

Contributing Institution: University Archives & Historical Collections, Office of the Provost

Relation: Sesquicentennial Oral History Project