Clinical Associate Professor Dr Cris Hughes has diligently worked on establishing collaboration with the Illinois State Police. These culminated in State Law of August 2021 which created the Illinois Forensic Science Committee, a body of action to deal with the backlog of mounting forensic evidence in the State, but also issues of emerging forensic policy. 

The Committee now holds regular meetings on campus, at the Carl R. Woese Institute of Genomic Biology and has already dramatically reduced forensic evidence processing times, as well as provided insights on the implications of obtaining new genomic technology and obtaining new partnerships with research and educational institutions in the State. 

Dr Hughes' contribution to these ongoing negotiations have been recently featured in LAS News.