Zapico received the honor on Friday, Sept. 25, during a ceremony in Tiernan Hall, the building that houses New Jersey Institute of Technology’s forensic science laboratories. The setting was fitting: rather than a distant banquet hall, the award was presented in the very spaces where her students learn to handle evidence, run analyses and interpret results. The presentation took place as part of National Forensic Science Week, an annual observance that highlights the role forensic science plays in the justice system and the professionals who make that work possible. Britton Morin, director of the Union County Prosecutor’s Office Forensic Science Laboratory, delivered the award on behalf of the Consortium of Forensic Science Organizations, a body that represents more than 21,000 forensic science professionals nationwide. The presence of a working crime laboratory director at the podium reflected the award’s emphasis on bridging academic training and professional practice.

Moments after accepting the honor, surrounded by students and colleagues from NJIT’s Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science, Zapico turned the spotlight away from herself and toward the people she teaches. “I am very proud of what you have accomplished, what you are doing and what you will accomplish,” she told her students. “You make me a better teacher every day. I learn from you — you’re supposed to be learning from me, but I learn from you, too.” The remark captured a teaching philosophy that colleagues and students describe as deeply reciprocal, one in which the laboratory functions less as a lecture hall and more as a working research environment where undergraduates, graduate students and faculty pursue questions together.

That philosophy was central to the citation read at the ceremony. “At the heart of Dr. Zapico’s teaching philosophy is a simple but powerful belief: Students learn best when they are actively engaged with science and understand its relevance to real-world forensic investigations,” Morin said on behalf of the consortium. “Her students do not simply learn forensic science; they practice it. They analyze evidence, test hypotheses, interpret results and communicate conclusions, gaining the skills and confidence needed to succeed as future forensic professionals. Perhaps the greatest measure of an educator’s success is the inspiration they leave with their students.” The statement reflects a broader movement in forensic science education away from purely didactic instruction and toward immersive, evidence-first training that mirrors the demands of operational laboratories.

Zapico’s own route into the field was anything but direct, and she has often said that this winding path shapes how she mentors students today. Growing up in Spain, she was inspired by the detective fiction of Agatha Christie and the Sherlock Holmes stories, but at the time there were few opportunities to study or train in forensic science in her home country. She instead studied biology and biochemistry, completed her doctoral studies in cancer research, and only later pursued formal forensic science training. Her first opportunity in the discipline came in forensic anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution, an institution with which she remains connected today as a research associate. “Becoming a forensic scientist was a difficult path. I encourage my students to take every opportunity they have here,” she said. “This award isn’t only about what I’ve accomplished. It’s also about what I can pass on to them.”

Since joining NJIT in 2021, Zapico has led the ForenBioS Laboratory, where she involves students at every level in research on emerging forensic methods. Among the lab’s central projects are new approaches to estimating age at death from skeletal remains, a problem with direct consequences for identifying unknown individuals in missing persons and mass fatality investigations. Her research portfolio also extends into forensic epigenetics, including the use of DNA methylation patterns to estimate age, an area of growing interest because chemical modifications to DNA change in predictable ways across the human lifespan. More recently, the lab has examined the molecular effects of smoking, vaping and exercise among young adults, connecting forensic molecular biology to pressing public health questions about a generation exposed to novel nicotine delivery products.

The students who filled the ceremony offered the most concrete evidence of her mentorship in action. Forensic science undergraduate Marlene Mohammed ’27 first met Zapico at NJIT’s Accepted Students Day while she was still a student at Clifton High School, and has since worked on three research projects in the ForenBioS Laboratory. One of those projects uses advanced spectroscopy techniques to study skeletal remains, with the goal of improving estimates of the postmortem interval — the length of time a person has been dead, one of the most difficult parameters to establish in forensic anthropology. Mohammed and Zapico are scheduled to present that research at the Eastern Analytical Symposium in November, a major meeting that brings analytical chemists and forensic scientists together. “I definitely wouldn’t have realized my passion for anthropology or serology without her,” Mohammed said. “She’s a multidisciplinary researcher, so I also saw the benefits of working with different sciences and collaborating with many scientists.”

Zapico’s mentorship has carried students into a wide range of forensic careers. Alumni from her lab now work in the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, including in its digital forensics laboratory, while Ph.D. student and Fulbright scholar Maria Castagnola, who also attended the ceremony, is applying DNA-based methods to help identify unknown human remains — a humanitarian application of molecular biology that echoes Zapico’s own work with international forensic organizations. David Fisher, director of NJIT’s Forensic Science Program, described Zapico as absolutely integral to the program, citing her supervision of undergraduate capstone projects and doctoral students as well as her involvement in the university’s Forensic Science Initiative. That initiative introduces local high school students to forensic science through hands-on coursework and laboratory experiences, extending the pipeline of future practitioners well before students arrive on campus as freshmen.

The educator award is the second major national recognition Zapico has received this year. In June she was inducted as a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors, an honor that acknowledged her contributions to forensic science research and innovation, particularly in translating laboratory discoveries into practical methods. Her broader career spans academia and international humanitarian work: before joining NJIT she directed a forensic science master’s program at Florida International University, conducted postdoctoral research at the Smithsonian Institution, and worked with the forensic unit of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, where forensic identification of missing persons carries profound significance for families and communities affected by conflict. For now, Zapico says she is focused on what comes next for her students. “To see how they advance in their careers is special — to see them growing as scientists and as forensic scientists — I think it’s the most rewarding thing for me,” she said.

Subject of Research: Recognition of forensic science education and mentorship in forensic anthropology and forensic epigenetics

Article Title: NJIT’s Sara Zapico named National Higher Education Forensic Science Educator of the Year

Article References: NJIT’s Sara Zapico named National Higher Education Forensic Science Educator of the Year. (n.d.). Original publication

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: Not provided

Keywords: forensic science, Sara Zapico, NJIT, forensic science education, Consortium of Forensic Science Organizations, forensic anthropology, DNA methylation, forensic epigenetics, postmortem interval, mentorship, National Forensic Science Week, higher education award