Dr. Wayne Lord

Education

Bachelor of Science - Biology (Major), English Literature (Minor) - Eastern University, St. Davids, Pennsylvania 1976.

Master of Science - Entomology and Applied Ecology (Major) - University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 1978.

Doctorate of Philosophy - Zoology (Major), Parasitology (Minor) - University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire 1982.

Following graduation from New Agents Training at the FBI Academy, Quantico, VA in 1986, I served as a Special Agent in the New Haven and Washington Metropolitan Field Divisions; as a Supervisory Special Agent in the FBI Laboratory (Evidence Response Team Unit) and Critical Incident Response (Behavioral Analysis Unit) Divisions; and as Chief of the Child Abduction and Serial Murder Investigative Resources Center. I retired from the FBI and joined the faculty of the Department of Biology and W. Roger Webb Forensic Science Institute at UCO in 2008. 

Research Interests

I am currently a Professor in the Department of Biology and in the W. Roger Webb Forensic Science Institute. I also serve as the Co-Director of the UCO collaborative Center for Wildlife Forensic Science and Conservation Studies (C-FACS). My students and I engage in a broad spectrum of collaborative research projects concerning the forensic aspects of wildlife conservation, protection, death investigation, and zoonotic disease emergence. As a twenty-one year veteran of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), I have an avid interest in research projects targeted at improving wildlife incident response and management, wildlife crime scene processing, and the investigation of domestic and international wildlife crimes.  Specific areas of current research include: marine vertebrate (whale, seal, and sea turtle) fossilization processes and post-mortem changes in maritime environments; the influence of global warming and climatic instability on the ecology and epidemiology of emerging parasitic zoonoses; the evolutionary origins of honey bee foraging behaviors and their potential application to the detection and recovery of forensically important materials and combating illicit wildlife trafficking; and advances in wildlife crime scene investigation techniques, processes, and procedures. 

Courses Taught at UCO

Histology (BIO 3414)

Parasitology (BIO 4773/5773)

Entomology (BIO 4754/5754)

Oklahoma Field Biology (BIO 4914/5914)

Medicolegal Forensic Science (FRSC 4163/5163)

Wildlife Forensic Science (FRSC 2823)

Field Wildlife Forensic Science (FRSC 4943)

Crime Scene Processing (FRSC 3043)

Forensic Interviewing (FRSC 3323)

Recent Publications

2016 – Kama A. King, M.S., Wayne D. Lord, Ph.D., Heather R. Ketchum, Ph.D., & R. Christopher O’Brien, Ph.D., Postmortem Scavenging by the Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana): Impact on Taphonomic Assemblages and Progression Forensic Science International, 266: 576.e1-576.e6, 2016 DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.06.021

2015 – King., K, Lord, W., Ketchum, H., and O’Brien, R., Facultative Scavenging and Carrion Guild Participation by Lynx rufus in the Presence of Young. Southwest Naturalist 60(3): in Press.

2015 – York, E., Creecy, J., Lord, W., and Caire, W., Molecular Evidence for a Geographic Range Expansion of the Tropical Parasite Angiostrongylus cantonensis in North America. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 21(7): 1-8

2014 – York, E., Butler, C., and Lord, W., Global Decline in Suitable Habitat for Angiostrongylus cantonensis: the Role of Climate Change. PLOS ONE, 9(8): 1-9.

2013 - Mather, R., Martinez, A., Lord, W., and Boudreaux, M., Evolutionary Forensic Psychology: Perspectives on Child Abductions and Child Homicides. J. Scientific Psychology, August 2013: 14-22.

2013 - Adams, D., Mabry, J., McCoy, M., and Lord, W., Challenges for Forensic Science: New Demands in Today’s World. Australian J. of Forensic Science, 45(4):347-355.

2012 – Adams, D., Mabry, J., Lord, W., McCoy, M., and Jourdan, T., A Novel Approach to Forensic Science Education. Proceedings of the Asian Association of Police Studies, Shenyang, China, 416-431.

2012 – Hawk, D., Knott, T., Lord, W., Wictum, B., and Wilson, P., Wildlife Crime: A Global Crisis. Proceedings of the Scientific Working Group on Wildlife Forensic Science (SWGWILD), February 2012: 1-14.

Research Pictures