Who We Are

Leadership

Our Executive Director

Dr. Kenneth G. Furton is the executive director of the Global Forensic and Justice Center and the chief scientific officer of Florida International University. He is a distinguished university professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and a world-leading scholar in forensic chemistry focused on trace chemical and scent detection.

From 2007 to 2014, he served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, which he reorganized into three mission-based interdisciplinary schools to address some of the biggest issues facing society, raising $50M in philanthropic gifts and doubling research funding to $60M annually. From 2014 to 2022 he served as provost, executive vice president and chief operating officer of FIU where he led the development and implementation of two FIU strategic plans helping to create a dynamic, results-oriented university with dramatic improvements in student success and research preeminence. During his tenure, he doubled the four-year graduation rates to over 60%, doubled research expenditures to $250M, and increased patents by 30-fold to more than 60 annually achieving a Top 20 patent ranking. Furton also helped secure more than $100 million in philanthropic gifts, moving FIU from #8 to #1 in the state of Florida performance-based funding rankings. Under his leadership FIU was the most improved R1 university in the nation in U.S. News rankings, stepping up by 54 spots in five years to No. 78 public, No. 17 in Innovation, and No. 5 in Social Mobility.

Deputy Executive Director

Kevin Lothridge is the Deputy Executive Director of the Global Forensic & Justice Center. Mr. Lothridge is an accomplished forensic scientist and business leader with nearly 40 years of experience in the national and international forensics industry. He served as CEO of the National Forensic Science Technology Center (NFSTC) from 2006-2018. He was pivotal in bringing the standalone non-profit under FIU and served as the executive director of NFSTC@FIU from 2018 – 2020. Prior to joining NFSTC, he served as chief forensic chemist and laboratory director for the Pinellas County (FL) Sheriff’s Department and the Pinellas County Forensics Laboratory.

Mr. Lothridge holds a bachelor's degree in forensic science from Eastern Kentucky University and a master's degree in management from National Louis University. He is currently completing a PhD in Forensic Chemistry at Western Sydney University. He has served as president of the American Society of Crime Lab Directors (ASCLD) and is a Fellow with the American Academy of Forensic Science (AAFS).

Dr. S.S. Iyengar is currently the Distinguished University Professor, Asian Digital Forensics Education and Research Director, Founding Director of the Discovery Lab and Director of the US Army-funded Center of Excellence in Digital Forensics at Florida International University. He is also the Distinguished Chaired Professor (Hon.) at National Forensics Sciences University, Gandhinagar, India. He is a Fellow of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), National Academy of Inventors (NAI), and of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and member of European Academy of Science. He has published 600 research papers and written 32 books. Previously, he was the director of FIU Knight Foundation School of Computing and Information Sciences for over 10 years and has worked at various national labs. He has published 600 research papers and written 32 books. Previously he was the director of FIU Knight Foundation School of Computing and Information Sciences for over 10 years and has worked at various national labs. He has been involved with research and education in high-performance intelligent systems, data science and machine learning algorithms, sensor fusion, data mining, and intelligent systems. Since receiving his PhD in 1974 from Missisippi State University, he has directed more than 65 PhD students, 100 Masters’ students, and many undergraduate students who are now faculty or scientists at major universities at labs around the world. His books are published by MIT Press, John Wiley and Sons, CRC Press, Prentice Hall, Springer Verlag, IEEE Computer Society Press, etc. In Spring 2021, Dr. Iyengar was awarded a $2.25 M funding for setting up a Digital Forensics Center of Excellence over a period of 5 years (2021-2026) from the US Army.

His H index is 67 and has over 150,000 citations. He has received over 125 US and global awards for his work on AI and machine related applications. His path-breaking discovery known as Brooks-Iyengar algorithm discovered in 1996 is a milestone in his career receiving the prestigious IEEE Test of Time award. This discovery has led to a breakthrough in the use of sensors in various applications across the globe. He has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the field of Digital Forensics in 2022 during the 7th INTERPOL DIGITAL FORENSICS EXPERT GROUP (DFEG) MEETING at National Forensics Sciences University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India. He has received 3 Lifetime Achievement Awards and 4 Honorary Doctorates Globally.

S.S. Iyengar

Asian Digital Forensic Education and Research Director (Hon.), GFJC; Distinguished University Professor, Ryder Professor, and Former Director, Knight Foundation School of Computing and Information Sciences; Director, US Army-funded Forensic Investigations Network in Digital Sciences (FINDS) Digital Forensics Center of Excellence; Founding Director, Discovery Lab; FIU. Distinguished Chaired Professor, National Forensics Sciences University, Gandhinagar, India.

Office: CASE 318
Phone: 305-348-3947
Email:iyengar@cis.fiu.edu
Website