National Center for Media Forensics

The Edward Byrne Memorial Discretionary Grants Program (Byrne Discretionary Program) helps local communities improve the capacity of local justice systems and provides for national support efforts. This project is authorized and funded through a line item in the FY 08 Congressional Budget. Funds are used for purposes recommended by Congress.

The University of Colorado at Denver will set up the National Center for Media Forensics(NCMF). Media Forensics is the practice and research of forensics applications pertaining to today's media (i.e. audio, video, digital photographs, computer hard drives and other digital storage devices). The mission of the NCMF is to establish a cutting-edge forensics center fostering innovation in the development of new knowledge, applications, methodologies, products, research, education, community outreach, and services relating to media forensics. Although the NCMF will have both a research and educational component, this funding will be used as startup resources for a new Master of Science in Media Forensics graduate program and continuing education for law enforcement. The new graduate degree will be one of the first of its type in the country.

Recently, large research organizations in audio such as Bell Labs, AVAYA, and the FBI have discontinued their forensic research, or in the case of the FBI, they have at least stopped publishing their research. This shifting landscape in forensic media research has created an urgent need for this proposed center to fill the void caused by the shifting interests of prior researchers, educators, and the ever-developing media technology, which can be adapted and applied to media forensics and biometrics.

The University of Colorado Denver will establish a center that can develop and coordinate new technologies while anticipating future challenges and proposing and sharing solutions with both private and public sector communities. The two major goals for this grant are to serve as a primary site for a world class Master of Science degree program in Media Forensics and to provide training to law enforcement and related communities for professional development. The educational objectives are to: develop an internationally recognized media forensics graduate program; establish new standards for an inter-disciplinary program in this area; and, retain world-renowned faculty to teach courses, perform research and mentor graduate students. The training objectives are to offer training to law enforcement for products developed at the NCMF and other topics, and offer training to forensic specialists to assist in making their knowledge more current.

NCA/NCF