Tracy Rogers

Biography

In addition to being Director of the Forensic Science Program at UTM and Associate Professor of Anthropology, Tracy Rogers is a Forensic Anthropologist who has been actively involved in case work since 1998, and is currently a consultant to the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service. Dr. Rogers has worked on cases in Ontario, Manitoba, and B.C., and most notably was the primary Forensic Anthropologist during the investigation of serial killer Robert Pickton in 2002-03. She has been qualified as an expert witness in the B.C. Supreme Court, the Court of Queen’s Bench of Manitoba, and the Ontario Court of Justice. Her research interests involve the identification of unknown skeletal remains, including: methods of estimating the age-at-death of an individual from the skeleton; skeletal sex determination; skeletal techniques for assessing the ancestry/biogeographical origin of the deceased; and positive identification of unidentified human remains. Related topics include factors influencing skeletal health, the study of juvenile skeletons, and trauma analysis. She also researches the application of new technologies to the documentation and analysis of outdoor crime scenes and clandestine graves, including 3D methods of capturing data that are both geospecific and quantifiable. Dr. Rogers publishes regularly in leading, peer-reviewed journals and is a regular reviewer for both the Journal of Forensic Sciences and Forensic Science International. Dr. Rogers has developed and teaches a variety of bioarchaeological, osteological, and forensic science courses, including the Forensic Anthropology Field School and the Forensic Science Internship course at the undergraduate level, and Graduate Forensic Anthropology and Professional Practice in Forensic Anthropology at the graduate level. She supervises graduate research in bioarchaeology, osteology, and forensic anthropology. Dr. Rogers is committed to providing her students exceptional learning experiences that lead to student success through experiential learning, application of new technologies, scaffolded skill-sets and knowledge, and targeted assignments that result in publications and/or conference presentations. Dr. Rogers has been nominated for a TVOntario’s Best Lecturer Award and was awarded the University of Toronto Mississauga Teaching Excellence Award for Faculty.

Research Interest

Forensic anthology: sex determination, human variation in modern populations, crime scene analysis.