UWindsor Annual Report 2007/2008

Bugs paid off for Professor Sherah VanLaerhoven, who received Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 award. The annual awards program celebrates the achievements of 40 Canadians in the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors, who have reached a significant level of success before age 40.

Professor Sherah VanLaerhoven Dr. VanLaerhoven, academic chair, Forensic Sciences Program and assistant professor in Biological Sciences, is one of only two forensic entomologists in Canada, and a pioneer in the field. Forensic entomology involves the use of insect evidence in forensic investigations and is used to estimate time of death to determine if a body has been moved or disturbed posthumously. The science is used in the investigation of cases of senior or child abuse, and in cases of wildlife poaching.

She studies insect arrival and departure (succession) patterns on dead bodies based on geographic area, since species of insects change with climatic region and habitat. VanLaerhoven conducted and published Canada’s first experimental research in the area of forensic entomology in 1996 and developed a regional forensic entomology database for British Columbia. She is currently developing a similar database for Ontario.

As well, VanLaerhoven set up a Forensic Entomology Research laboratory, one of only two in Canada, which includes high security facilities for forensic investigations. Her research was acclaimed at the XII International Congress of Entomology as a leader in the field, and has been used as a template for successive studies on carrion around the world. VanLaerhoven’s research has been used in a number of homicide cases and she has served as an expert witness for more than a decade, including in the Regina vs. Truscott case.

She developed and has administered the Honours Bachelor of Forensic Science and Honours Bachelor of Arts in Forensics and Criminology undergraduate programs since their inception in 2003. As well, she supervises undergraduate and graduate students in entomology research applied to agriculture, forestry and forensic science, and regularly addresses students at the high school level to encourage young people to pursue careers in science.

VanLaerhoven negotiated an agreement between the University of Windsor and the Ontario Police College to provide undergraduate students with unique opportunities to gain hands-on skills in forensic science from police instructors at the College’s mock town and crime scene facility. With the exception of the FBI’s Quantico, Virginia, facility, the OPC facility is the only one of its kind in North America. No other university program in North America offers students an opportunity access to the same instructors and facilities that are used to educate active-duty police crime-scene officers.

In return, VanLaerhoven teaches a course in the collection and recovery of human remains for senior crime scene officers at the Ontario Police College.

In addition to her work in forensic entomology, she does research into the biological control of insect pests in forestry and agriculture. She is currently testing a native Canadian wasp parasite to control cabbage loopers, a chronic greenhouse pest that destroys some greenhouse vegetable production, and she has researched the biological control of the southern pine beetle, which kills thousands of hectares of pine forest each year in the southern United States. Biological pest control not only saves money, but allows for reduction in the use of chemical pesticides, and protects soil, water, and air environments.