Joseph T. Hefner

Biography

Dr. Joseph Hefner is an assistant professor specializing in forensic anthropology and quantitative methods. His interests in forensic anthropology include the estimation of ancestry using macromorphoscopic (cranial nonmetric) traits and cranial and postcranial metrics. The focus of Dr. Hefner’s research is the standardization and quantification of macromorphoscopic traits with robust and appropriate classification statistics, including data mining techniques and machine learning methods. One aspect ... of this type of research is the seemingly endless need for more data. To that end, Dr. Hefner is currently establishing the Forensic Macromorphoscopic Databank at MSU, with a grant provided by the National Institute of Justice. Dr. Hefner’s professional activities center on forensic anthropological method and theory and statistical approaches to biological anthropology, including biodistance analysis, categorical data analysis, geometric morphometric methods, data excavation, and parametric/nonparametric classification statistics.

Dr. Hefner’s graduate students participate in current research on cranial macromorphoscopic traits and pursue their own academic/applied interests.

Dr. Hefner is a board certified forensic anthropologist (D-ABFA) and a founding editor of Forensic Anthropology (journal). He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, a member of the Register of Professional Archaeologists, American Association of Anatomists, Sigma Xi, and he is an Assessor for the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors, Laboratory Accreditation Board.