Membership & Promotion Deadline Approaching!

The Digital & Multimedia Sciences (DMS) Section Officers would like to remind the members of the upcoming promotion application deadline as well as encourage each of you to invite prospective members to join the Academy.

Promotion Deadline Approaching:

As a reminder, the deadline to apply for promotion in the Academy is October 1. For full details, see the Academy website: https://www.aafs.org/membership-current-members/promote

You will need a letter or reference for promotion to Trainee, Associate, or Member, so you will want to ask for those now. Please note that a letter of reference is not required for advancement from Member to Fellow.

If you are considering applying for promotion next year (2024-25 Academy Year), you are encouraged to review the promotion requirements now, particularly the service to the Academy and Section requirements.

If you need a committee assignment or to serve as a moderator, there is still time to make it happen! Please get in touch with DMS Section Membership ad hoc Committee Chair Jason Lewis at Jason@CyForceConsulting.com, and he will put you in touch with the correct committee chair for your particular need.

Student and Trainee Affiliate and Associate Member:

The Academy and the DMS Section would like to ask all of our members to help us spread the word about the Academy and encourage your colleagues to consider joining. We offer many avenues for entry into this professional organization, and membership at any level is beneficial to the professional growth of everyone. The Academy's entry-level membership tier for forensic professionals is the Associate Member, which requires the applicant to have earned a baccalaureate degree and have five (5) years of experience in one of the forensic sciences within the scope of coverage acceptable to the section, or a master's degree and four (4) years of similar experience, or a doctorate degree and three (3) years of similar experience."

We know that this membership requirement can be a barrier to entry. This is why the Academy has the Trainee Affiliate and Student Affiliate membership classifications. These two classes of membership offer the "new" forensic scientist a pathway to join the Academy early in their career and thus benefit from all that the Academy has to offer to help propel their careers to the next level.

We would like to especially ask all of our teachers and supervisors to consider recommending their students and employees for membership in the Academy.

If you have any questions, please contact the Chair of the DMS Section Membership ad hoc Committee, Jason Lewis, at jason@cyforceconsulting.com, or Co-Chair, Brandon Epstein, at brandon.epstein@co.middlesex.nj.us.