FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

First Ellis R. Kerley Award Granted

The grant was issued to the most outstanding anthropology paper presented at the 54^th annual American Academy of Forensic Sciences

February 15, 2002 -- The Ellis R. Kerley Forensic Sciences Foundation today announces the winner of the first Ellis R. Kerley Award. The $1,000 grant was awarded to Ann H. Ross, Ph.D. of the C.A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory in Gainesville Florida. The award winning paper was entitled: Population Specific Identification Criteria for Cuban Americans in South Florida, and was presented at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) 54th annual meeting held in Atlanta, Georgia this week.

The award, which is the first one issued by the foundation, was presented during the reception held for the anthropology section at the AAFS meeting on Thursday evening at the Marriott Grand Marquis. This award was granted for the paper/poster which best demonstrates originality, creativity, depth of research, innovation, new methodologies, research design, significance to the field, and/or potential impact on the practices of forensic anthropology.

This paper was based on research Dr. Ross started while she was in her doctoral studies at the University of Tennessee in 1997 where she was researching craniofacial variation, including geomorphometric and traditional morphometric methods. "I decided on this research project because there is a need for population specific identification criteria for more accurate biological profiles" states Dr. Ross, "and because of my general interests in human variation." Although this paper demonstrated innovative research, it is only a portion of her ongoing research on craniofacial variation of past and present populations of Latin America. Further research is underway with a team of scientists to develop a baseline for craniofacial variation in the Americas prior to European contact, population specific criteria of contemporary Hispanics and developing new tools using geomorphometric methods.

"This is an new and exciting era for physical anthropologists not only in the forensic realm, but also for issues in peopling of the new world" says Dr. Ross, who has been a visiting professor at the C. A. Pound Lab for approximately two years.

Dr. Ross will be using portions of the grant to fund a humanitarian mission to the Island of Coiba, Republic of Panama, where she will be working with the Panamanian Truth Commission.  This mission will enable Dr. Ross to exhume, excavate, analyze, and identify victims who were murdered during the military regimes of Torrijos and Noriega (1968-1988).

“The board of directors deliberated over all the applicants for this year’s first Ellis R. Kerley Award, but Dr. Ross’s research is significant to enhancing the practices of physical and forensic anthropology. We are thrilled that she has won and that she will be using a portion for the humanitarian mission to Panama,” says Amy Moorhouse, President of the Ellis R. Kerley Foundation.

The Ellis R. Kerley Forensic Science Foundation was started in 2000 in memory of Ellis R. Kerley, Forensic Anthropologist (1924-1998) to help the development of the anthropology science by providing educational opportunities to students through scholarship and encouraging further research from colleagues by providing grants to scientists who make a difference in the field of forensic anthropology.

For More Information Contact:

Ellis Kerley Forensic Sciences Foundation
Tel: 678/467-7248
Internet: info@elliskerleyforensicsciencesfoundation.org