“What is ‘Forensic Science’? A USMC Methodology for Amplification” Decades of Hollywood “CSI” portrayals and flawed or nonexistent designs of experiments have imbued erroneous perceptions of forensic practices in the minds of jurists, advocates, jurors, and forensic practitioners. This session will provide an overview of pragmatic insight from a mainstream scientist who became an FBI Agent investigating criminal activities in Chicago and Detroit, and who was subsequently assigned to the FBI Laboratory “in the forensic trenches” as a forensic metallurgist, eventually testifying as an expert on similar issues before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on the Judiciary. The presentation will use U.S. Marine Corps drill instructor methodology to impart understanding of the realities of forensic practices, how they were developed, inferential logic processes, fallacies of induction, potential biases, rates of error, and scientifically defensible inferences.