Page 51 - Aug Sept 2016

A Personal and Indepth Interview with Dennis Hillard
departments at the university. It was his involvement with the faculty of the College

of Pharmacy that lead to the laboratory being transitioned from the chemistry de-
partment to the College of Pharmacy after Dr. Harrison passed away in 1970.

In 1980 when I joined the laboratory staff, it was a common occurrence to work
cases with faculty and staff from the chemistry, textiles, microbiology and engineer-
ing. In 1998, I was approached by the chair of the chemistry department to apply for

one of several partnership funds that were promoted by the President of the Uni-
versity. He introduced me to Dr. Jimmie Oxley of the chemistry department and to

Dr. Everett Crisman of the engineering department. We worked on the application
together and in April of 1999 we were awarded a Partnership grant.

This Partnership first offered a seminar series in Forensic Science and we brought a
variety of individuals to the campus to present seminars. One of our first presenters

was Dr. Henry Lee. The seminar series continues today and it is taken by students
for credit, but it has always been open and free to the general public. There are a

group of individuals which have attended seminars every semester for the past 15
years. Past and present seminar presenters and their topics can be seen here: http://
www.chm.uri.edu/forensics/seminars.php

The partner has lead to a B.S. Chemistry forensic science track as well as a foren-
sic minor in chemistry. The partnership also had a hand in the development of two

centers of Excellence at the university: The Center of Excellence for Explosives
Detection, Mitigation and Response in the chemistry department; and The Digital
Forensics and Cyber Security Center in the computer science department.

Sonya Trippett: I see that you are an Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Sciences in

the College of Pharmacy at the University of Rhode Island. What classes do you
currently teach? What advice do you give your students when they want to pursue

the Forensic Sciences?

Dennis Hilliard: The College of Pharmacy provided me with the title of Adjunct
Assistant Professor because of my participation in some graduate courses, but most-

ly with my teaching and coordination of the laboratory’s training programs for law
enforcement which included the Crime Scene Investigation course and the Breatha-

lyzer Training program that was held at the university until 1992. I am active in
the coordination of Forensic Science Partnership Seminar series and have provided
several lectures in that program over the past 15 years.

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