For her PhD dissertation, Use of hyperspectral remote sensing to examine immature blow fly development, Dr. Jodie Warren designed an innovative method to estimate age of immature insects which can be applied to death investigations. This method adds precision to current techniques and allows forensic entomologists to provide more precision in post-mortem interval estimations. This greater precision will have profound influence on homicide investigations and improve the ability to point the investigation into the correct timeframe as well as confirm or negate witness statements.

Her supervisor, Dr. Gail Anderson, recognizes the importance of Jodie’s work. “Her work is at the top of the field of forensic science, specifically, forensic entomology and her research design, results and output have been inspirational. Forensic entomology is an important component of death, and particularly, homicide investigations, and Jodie’s ideas and thesis are game changes for examining such data from crime scenes.”

During the course of her research, she received the prestigious Alexander Goetz prize for her research design. Dr. Warren completed this highly lauded research without letting the lasting effects of a devastating stroke suffered in her early twenties prevent her from achieving her dreams.

Anderson, shares, “[t]he fact that she recovered from this [stroke] and has achieved so much is amazing and extremely noteworthy, in fact she was honoured with the Terry Fox Gold Medal Award for her bravery and courage to come back.”

Currently, Dr. Warren is continuing research in the lab that she completed her graduate work while instructing first and third year undergraduate courses in criminology here at SFU. Additionally, Dr. Warren also mentors elementary and secondary students, young women as well as Indigenous youth and also runs the RCMP Protected Level C lab at SFU.

Warren is appreciative of the support she’s received during her studies. “I am indebted to Gail Anderson, David Campbell and Pulindu Ratnasekera for their mentorship and encouragement in this innovative research project.”

Dr. Warren's career goal is to secure a faculty position teaching criminology and forensic science courses and applying hyperspectral remote sensing to forensic entomology and other forensic sciences. An immediate goal of hers is to make a spectrometer a regular tool used at crime scenes.