James Michael Curran

James M. Curran is currently an Associate Professor of Statistics in the Department of Statistics at the University of Auckland (Auckland, New Zealand). Dr. Curran is also the co-director of the New Zealand Bioinformatics Institute at the University of Auckland (www.bioinformatics.org.nz). His interests include computer programming, computational statistics, data analysis, forensic science, the design and analysis of experiments, and bioinformatics. Past research includes the interpretation and evaluation of forensic glass evidence, evaluation of forensic DNA evidence, and the effects of population substructure on DNA evidence.

Dr. Curran is the author of more than 70 scientific articles on the subject of statistical evaluation of forensic evidence. He has lectured statistics at the university level for 16 years and has been an invited speaker to many international workshops and conferences. He also also testified in forensic cases in the United States and Australia as an expert witness.

Dr. Curran is a Senior Consulting Forensic Scientist to the United Kingdom Forensic Science Service (FSS) where he has worked since 2001 with the development team for the FSS-i^3 software suite for DNA analysis. Dr. Curran is responsible for Kwikmix-3, a mixture interpretation package, and LoComatioN, which is an interpretation tool for low template DNA. Dr. Curran has also written the computational core of SPURS3, a package for DNA interpretation used in Australia and New Zealand.

When Dr. Curran is not at work he can be found on his road bike, in the garden, or playing with his PS/3, Xbox, or numerous computers.