NLECTC West Staff

Toll-free: 888-548-1618
Fax: 310-336-2227

Center Staff

Michael Epstein, Center Director
E-mail: epstein@law-west.org

Mr. Epstein is an engineer with over 35 years of experience in aerospace engineering. Mr. Epstein has worked for various aerospace companies in Southern California with expertise in structural dynamic analysis of aircraft and missile structures, design and development of military C4I computer systems, and programmatic management of various U.S. Department of Defense military intelligence systems. Mr. Epstein has spent the last six years at NLECTC-West managing various system engineering and criminal forensic projects.

Mr. Epstein holds Bachelor and Masters Degrees in Mechanical Engineering from The City University of New York.

Matt Begert, Sr. Program Manager
E-mail: begert@law-west.org

Mr. Begert has career operational experience in infantry, air support, and tactical aviation, in the U.S. Marine Corps. He worked as a technical liaison officer and Naval Service representative to an independent developmental and operational field testing agency operated by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, specializing in electro-optical, infrared, and laser technology. His assigned duties included assessment and identification of candidate technology of potential military utility for operations in urban terrain and dual use (military and law enforcement) operations. Other support for law enforcement and military technology assessment includes presentations on less-lethal technology for the National Defense Industrial Association, and membership in the California Peace Officers Association, the National Tactical Officers association, and pending acceptance into the Los Angeles Sheriff's reserve officer program.

Mr. Begert holds Bachelor degrees in Journalism and Anthropology from the University of Kansas, and is a graduate of the Strategic Decision Making Curriculum, U.S. Naval War College.

Wilma Jolly, Forensics Administrator
E-mail: jolly@law-west.org

Gail Klass, Administrative Assistant
E-mail: klass@law-west.org

Sean Reeves, Project Manager
E-mail: reeves@law-west.org

Dr. Robert J. Waldron, Special Projects
E-mail: waldron@law-west.org

Dr. Waldron has 24 years experience at The Aerospace Corporation in the application of science and engineering principles to systems analysis, simulation, and project management. He has worked in cardiovascular mechanics, photovoltaics, petroleum engineering, electric vehicle modeling, thermodynamics and satellite system design for battlefield users. For the last three years Dr. Waldron has been a Program Manager for NLECTC-West, providing project management support to NLECTC-West in El Segundo California and to the Border Research and Technology Center in San Diego. Dr. Waldron is involved in communications interoperability projects for both centers and supports the Western Center in education and outreach programs to the eight Western states.

Dr. R. J. Waldron holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics from Gonzaga University and a Ph. D. in Applied Mathematics from Michigan State University.

Larry Cothran, Consultant
Email: diannalarry@yahoo.com

As Executive Officer to the California Department of Corrections he directs the Technology Transfer Committee in testing, evaluating and developing new Correctional Technology. He also serves as a Technical Advisor and Committee member to the California Youth Authority Technology Review Committee, chaired the California Department of General Services Arms Evaluation Committee, was the Technical Advisor and Committee Member to the Paroles and Community Services Divisions Technology Utilization Committee, the Vice-Chair to the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center Western Region, Task Group Member to the Food and Drug Administration Office of Science & Technology, and the Vice-Chair and Advisory Council Member on Weapons Detection for the National Law Enforcement & Corrections Technology Center (National).

Currently he is the Chairman and Consultant to the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (Western Region), and a Technical Consultant on Prison Security to National Institute of Corrections and the California Department of Corrections.

Dr. Robert J. Bunker is CEO of the Counter-OPFOR Corporation. He was the 2007 Futurist in Residence, FBI Academy, Quantico and is currently a member of the Futures Working Group (FWG) which is a collaboration between the Society of Police Futurists International (PFI) and the Behavioral Science Unit (BSU), FBI Academy, Quantico. He has served as a counter-terrorism consultant to Red Team Intelligence, LLC and as a senior consultant and red-team member for Envisioneering, Inc. He has been a member of the Los Angeles Terrorism Early Warning Group since its founding in 1996 and has counter-terrorism operational planning experience. He is a member of the National Institute of Justice Less Lethal Technical Working Group. He is also a former Adjunct Professor, National Security Studies Program, California State University San Bernardino; past Fellow, Institute of Land Warfare, Association of the United States Army; and former Professor, Unconventional Warfare, American Military University, Manassas Park, Virginia. He holds degrees in political science, government, behavioral science, anthropology-geography, social science, and history. Professional LE related training includes Intelligence Support to Force Protection, Anti-Terrorism Course & Force Protection Operations Course, and Mirror Image (Jihadi) Course. Dr. Bunker has provided over 150 briefings and presentations on terrorism, future warfare & conflict, suicide bombers, less lethal weapons and directed energy weapons. He has written well over 100 essays in publications such as The Police Chief, The Tactical Edge, California Journal of Law Enforcement, Parameters, Military Review, Marine Corps Gazette, Special Warfare, Airpower Journal, Naval Institute Proceedings, and numerous military encyclopedias. He is the editor of a series of law enforcement booklets, Non-State Threats and Future Wars (Frank Cass: 2003), Networks, Terrorism and Global Insurgency (Routledge: 2005), and Criminal-States and Criminal-Soldiers (Routledge: 2008).

Communications

Dr. Fletcher D. Wicker, Senior Communications Analyst
E-mail: wicker@law-west.org

Dr. Wicker is a Senior Engineering Specialist with 24 years of experience in the analysis and design of communications systems. For the past three years he has supported NLECTC-West in the analysis of various land mobile radio projects. Dr. Wicker has a strong background in the simulation and analysis of communication network architectures and has studied various public safety networks in the Western United States.

Dr. Wicker holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Mathematics from Pennsylvania State University.

Trace Element Analysis

Dr. Gary W. Stupian, Senior Forensic Analyst
E-mail: stupian@law-west.org

Dr. Stupian is a physicist with many years of experience encompassing a wide range of analytic techniques including electron microscopy, Auger electron spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Although the great majority of his work has been carried out in support of military space programs, Dr. Stupian was first involved in forensic science over 25 years ago. He supports the Western Regional Center in the application of advanced analytic techniques to forensic investigations. He is one of the Center's presenters in the basic investigators' core course sponsored by the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training.

Dr. Stupian holds a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from the California Institute of Technology and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from the University of Illinois.

Neil A. Ives, Forensic Analyst
E-mail: ives@law-west.org

Neil Ives is a research scientist with over 15 years of experience in aerospace and defense technology. His areas of scientific expertise include digital image acquisition, transmission, processing and display systems. With a career background in chemistry and physics he has carried out forensic investigations applying novel scientific techniques with technically advanced analytical systems. Prior to his work at the Aerospace Corporation he was a member of the technical staff at Occidental Research Corporation. He is the author or many scientific papers and has received patents for his work in solid state electronics and display technology.

Mr. Ives holds a Bachelors Degree in Chemistry from the University of Redlands, has done graduate study in materials science at the University of Southern California.

Audio Forensics

James L. Roeder, Audio Forensic Analyst
E-mail: roeder@law-west.org

Dr. Roeder is a physicist in the Space and Environment Technology Center of the Aerospace Corporation. He has been involved in a wide variety of research concerning the solar wind and the Earth's ionosphere and magnetosphere. This effort has included the design and construction of space flight instruments, the analysis of the data from those experiments, and the construction of mathematical models of physical processes. The topics for his research include plasma waves generated by both natural processes and active space experiments, the dynamics of the Earth's radiation belts and ring current, and electromagnetic phenomena associated with earthquakes. He also provides expertise in the areas of spacecraft-environment interactions, space system design, satellite operations, and digital signal processing. Dr. Roeder has spent part of the last four years developing, refining and utilizing audio analysis techniques to process audio tape evidence.

Dr. Roeder received the Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from the University of Houston, Texas.

Imagery Forensics

Dr. Raymond J. Talbot, Jr., Senior Forensic Analyst
E-mail: talbot@law-west.org

Dr. Talbot is a physicist with a total of 29 years of experience in technology areas involving image and video sensor systems and data processing and analysis. He is Director of the Sensor Support Office in the Engineering and Technology Group of The Aerospace Corporation. He has been associated with NLECTC-West since its inception. His support activities include image and video forensic analysis and support to law enforcement agencies planning image and video systems.

Dr. Talbot holds Bachelor and Doctorate Degrees in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was an Associate Professor of Space Physics and Astronomy at Rice University for 12 years teaching undergraduate and graduate courses and performing research in astronomy and astrophysics, including pioneering work in image processing.

Dr. Donald J. Rudy, Imagery Forensic Analyst
E-mail: rudy@law-west.org

Dr. Rudy began his career in Radio Astronomy and has since moved to the Infrared and Visible parts of the spectrum. Prior to coming to The Aerospace Corporation, he worked as a scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, including being a member of the Voyager imaging team during the Neptune encounter. Since then he has worked on numerous Earth remote sensing projects for the Air Force as well as civilian government agencies. His work for the NLECTC-West includes analyzing and enhancing video, photographic, and film evidence taken from crime scenes. He has also worked on informational pamphlets and given lectures to groups of police officers on the handling of imagery evidence and surveillance techniques.

Computer Network Security

Dr. Charles Lavine, Department Director
E-mail: lavine@law-west.org

Dr. Lavine has over 17 years of experience ranging from extensive knowledge of information system security concepts and practices, information systems standards and protocols, and information security evaluation criteria. He has an in-depth experience in software system safety engineering, standards, and practices, and broad experience in computer system engineering, and security product evaluations. His project experience includes Project Leader for $2 million contract for trusted product evaluations, security criteria development, and guidance document development for the National Security Agency. He is currently the manager for the Security Architecture Section with up to 14 members of the technical staff.

Dr. Lavine holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry, from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a M.S. in Computer Science from the California State University, Northridge.

Computer Forensics

Dr. Steven H. Margolis, Computer Forensic Analyst
E-mail: margolis@law-west.org

Dr. Margolis has broad experience with computer systems issues, computer vision, artificial intelligence, operating systems, and programming languages, including specific expertise with image processing, image formats, and text searches. His work includes searching for imagery on computer media in cases of murder, child molestation, and child pornography. Searches for specific victim information in cases of murder, child molestation, identity theft, check forgery, and embezzlement. Searches for financial records in cases of money laundering, tax evasion, embezzlement, trade secret theft, and fraud. He has also used artificial intelligence programs to facilitate text searches on computer media.

Dr. Margolis holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Masters degree and Ph. D in Astronomy and Astrophysics from the University of Chicago.

Larry Jansen, Computer Forensic Analyst
E-mail: jansen@law-west.org

Prototype Development

Mahan Hajianpour, Software Development
Email: Mahan.Hajianpour@aero.org

Jeff Lipeles, Software Development
Email: Jeffrey.D.Lipeles@aero.org

Gary Marshall, Software Development
Email: Gary.R.Marshall@aero.org

Don Scott, Software Development
Email: Donald.W.Scott@aero.org

Bob Helfman, Software Development
Email: Robert.S.Helfman@aero.org

Mike O'Shea
National Institute of Justice
Program Manager
Tel: (202) 305-7954
E-mail: michael.o'shea@usdoj.gov

Last updated: April 25, 2008