Be recognized as a 2025 FORESIGHT Maximus Award Winner

ASCLD has supported Project FORESIGHT, a business-guided self-evaluation of forensic science laboratories, for over a decade. Annual reports for prior years, links to publications and social media are available via the project website.

Dr. Paul Speaker, Professor and Fred T. Tattersall Distinguished Teaching Chair in Finance in the John Chambers College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University, evaluates submitted data from laboratories each year in this voluntary program. Laboratories that meet certain criteria will be awarded a Foresight Maximus Award at the 2025 ASCLD Symposium.

Below you will find the data collection form LabRAT for participation in Project FORESIGHT. As a response to several laboratories regarding the minimum data necessary to participate, we created a data collection tool that includes LabRAT levels. 

The current version of LabRAT includes a new Level II worksheet on quality management/quality assurance (QM/QA). This new worksheet is a response to quality managers’ inquiries about the optimal staffing for quality management. We encourage all participants to contribute their laboratories staffing details with best estimates of your practice.

The LabRAT Levels data collection sheet separates the minimum data necessary from the maximum data possible. Complete the following:

  1. “Open Me First” worksheet
  2. “Casework Level I”, which asks for Cases submitted for each investigative area and full time equivalent employees in each area
  3. “Expenditures Level I” worksheet, which asks for personnel expenditures (salaries, wages, benefits, temporary employees and overtime) for each area of investigation and laboratory total expenditures for capital, consumables, and the lump sum of other expenditures.

With this data we can provide you with a full report. The “Summary Measures” worksheet will give you immediate feedback with this minimum data reporting. You Tube videos demonstrating the use of the LabRAT tool are available on the project website.

All of your Level I Casework and Expenditures data are immediately transferred to the Level II worksheets. Any additional detail on casework (e.g., TAT, backlogs, items, samples, tests, and reports) or expenditures will enhance the precision of your report. Partial reporting under the Level II worksheets is fine. Do not worry about having all possible blocks filled.

Please try to submit your data by January 15, 2024 to: foresightsubmissions@gmail.com or paul.speaker@mail.wvu.edu.  If you are unable to meet that target date, please submit when you are able. All submissions that are receive at least one month prior to the 2024 ASCLD Symposium (Symposium begins April 4) will be evaluated for Maximus award consideration.

Note that annual reports for prior years, links to publications and social media are available via the project website.