For his work assisting with a murder investigation in 2016, University Distinguished Professor Anil Jain was recently honored by both the Lansing Police Department and the Michigan State University Police Department.
The LPD awarded Jain a Civilian Citation “for meritorious actions which significantly aided in the protection of life,” and the MSUPD presented him the Meritorious Service Award “in response to the assistance provided to the Digital Forensics and Computer Crimes Unit.”
Jain’s biometrics team was approached by the two police departments last year when they could not unlock a murder victim’s cell phone. Jain’s team used a specially created computer program to enhance the victim’s fingerprints and then printed 2-D fingerprints with conductive ink to create an electrical circuit which simulates a live finger. Police were then able to unlock the cell phone to obtain evidence.
Along with Jain, two other members of the biometrics team, post-doctoral student Kai Cao and doctoral student Sunpreet Arora (recently graduated), also received the special citations.