Amanda Fazi, WSU '10: Undergraduate research leads to a career in forensic analysis

Amanda Fazi came to Wayne State intending to go to medical school. She took the right courses and earned superb grades, but had a change of heart after joining a laboratory and discovering that she enjoyed research.

Amanda worked for two semesters with Dr. Athar Ansari investigating the role of gene looping in transcription. She went on to study coyotes in southeast Michigan and collect samples in the western United States with Dr. Dan Kashian’s research group.
After graduating Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 2010, Amanda completed a graduate forensic sciences program at Michigan State University and accepted a position as a DNA fingerprinting expert with the Forensic Science Division of the Michigan State Police. She processed evidence to develop DNA profiles and then explained the results as an expert witness in the courtroom.

Amanda recently moved to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, where she works in the biology/DNA unit.