University Park -- Graduate School Alumni Society (GSAS) Honors Humanitarian
The
Graduate School Alumni Society (GSAS) has announced the first recipient
of the GSAS Humanitarian Award. Penn State alumnus Robert C. Shaler, ‘68
Ph.D. in biochemistry, was recognized on March 19, for his humanitarian
service to the people of New York City and more broadly, to the people of
the United States, following the September 11, 2001 attack on the World
Trade Center. Shaler is the director of the Department of Forensic Biology
in the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in New York City.
In the wake of the World Trade Center attacks, he assumed the job of identifying the 2,749 people who perished, and designed and implemented the DNA testing strategy that became the cornerstone for the majority of the 1,588 identifications made at the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office. Beyond his professional involvement, Shaler interacted at a personal level with the surviving family members, including the people and families who lost someone in the destruction but whose remains could not be found. Moreover, it has been said that he maintains close contact with many, who regard him almost as a family member and as the city official they can most trust.
The GSAS Humanitarian Award was established to recognize a graduate degree alumnus or alumna who has made a positive societal impact on the welfare of humankind. Selection of the individual for this award is based upon humanitarian service to society over the life career of the individual and is defined as actions beyond the responsibilities of one’s profession, that have helped to improve the welfare of humankind, including significant contributions benefiting one’s community, state, nation or people of other nations.
Shaler is considered a pioneer in the field of forensic biology and established a new standard for the use of DNA analysis for solving crime scene problems. He began his career in forensic science shortly after obtaining a doctoral degree in biochemistry from Penn State. Initially, he worked at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, before joining Pitt’s Pharmacy School faculty in the Medicinal Chemistry Department. About this same time, he began taking scientific sleuthing courses in the Department of Chemistry, a program taught by the scientific staff at the Pittsburgh Crime Laboratory.
Working as a criminalist at the Pittsburgh Crime Laboratory and as a professor of chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh, he taught forensic chemistry and delved into the world of forensic science, performing drug analyses, crime scene investigations, court testimony, and administrating a National Institute of Justice grant to study the individualization of bloodstain evidence. The latter led him to the Aerospace Corporation, where he managed four National Institute of Justice forensic science contracts, one of which resulted in the development of a bloodstain analysis system, the defacto standard in forensic laboratories until the early 1990s.
The New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner beckoned in 1978, where he became the director of the forensic serology laboratory and performed and directed forensic biological analyses in all New York City homicide investigations. In 1986, he left New York City to join the Lifecodes Corporation, the nation’s first forensic DNA laboratory.
In 1990, he returned to the Medical Examiner’s Office to establish the largest forensic biology department in the United States. The laboratory embarked on an expansion program in 1997 that raised its scientific staff of nine to 110. In 2000, he designed a 13 story building, to be completed in 2006, that will see the scientific staff increase to over 500, have an annual caseload of 70,000, will offer expanded forensic testing that will include forensic molecular pathology, crime reconstruction, and forensic neuroscience.***mbe***
PR Contact:
Marilyn B. Engle
mbengle@psu.edu
814-863-8117
Release Date: April 15, 2005