Dr. Kelly Elkins is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Towson University and a founding tri-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Forensic Science Education. She earned her Bachelor’s degrees in Biology and Chemistry from Keene State College in 1997 and Masters and Doctorate degrees in Chemistry from Clark University in 2001 and 2003, respectively. She conducted research in Heidelberg, Germany, as a Fulbright Scholar from 2001-2002 at the European Media Lab (now HITS) and at MIT as a Cancer Research Institute Postdoctoral Fellow from 2003-2004.
She is the author of the books Forensic DNA Biology: A Laboratory Manual, Introduction to Forensic Chemistry, and Next Generation Sequencing in Forensic Science: A Primer (in press) in addition to eight invited book chapters and more than thirty-five journal papers on her research in journals including the Journal of Forensic Sciences, Analytical Biochemistry, Microorganisms, Drug Testing and Analysis, Medicine, Science and the Law, Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, Protein Engineering, Journal of Forensic Science Education, Journal of Chemical Education, The Chemical Educator, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education.
She has presented her work at conferences in the United States, Canada, Mexico, England, Germany, Russia, and Korea. She has taught courses in forensic biology and forensic chemistry under various course numbers at four colleges and universities since 2006.
She is an active member of the American Chemical Society and a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. She is a member of the Council of Forensic Science Educators and served as its President in 2012. She is a Member of the ACS Ethics Committee and co-wrote the 2018 ACS Exams Institute Diagnostic of Undergraduate Chemical Knowledge (DUCK) exam. She is the past-Chair of the ACS Division of Professional Relations Ethics Subdivision.
Her research has been funded by the Forensic Sciences Foundation, NSF, NIH, Maryland TEDCO, and ACS.
She is the editor for two books in development, Trends in Counterfeit Drugs and International Ethics in Chemistry: Development of Common Values and On-going Communication of Cross-cultural Codes.
She enjoys communicating science in the classroom, through professional presentations, via outreach activities, in interviews, and on television. She has been interviewed by NBC 9News Denver, FOX 31 News Denver, ABC 7 News Denver, The Denver Post, and Forensic Magazine as a forensic expert. Her contact info is here.