Academic Background: Dr. Attinger is a mechanical engineer and scientist with expertise in Heat Transfer and Fluid Dynamics. He received a PhD in 2001, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich), which is consistently ranked in the top ten universities in the world for engineering, science, and technology.
Before engaging in his consultancy, Dr. Attinger has been for 20 years a full-time faculty member of research-intensive US Research Universities, Stony Brook University, Columbia University, and Iowa State University. Since 2015, Attinger has been serving as an Adjunct Lecturer in the Forensic Science Graduate Program, The University of the West Indies, Jamaica.
Academic Teaching, Research, and Service: Attinger has developed educational curricula for graduate and undergraduate students, and taught academic courses such as Fluid dynamics of bloodstain pattern analysis, advanced fluid dynamics, basic fluid dynamics, Heat Transfer, Solar Thermal Engineering, Design of Thermal Systems, Thermodynamics, Conduction and Radiation.
He has served as major advisor for MS, PhD students and postdocs, several of which are now tenured Professors.
Dr. Attinger has led nine Government-funded research projects as Primary Investigator and was responsible for more than USD $5m of US Federal Research Awards. Attinger has evaluated research proposals of peer scientists in Government Funding Review panels, for the US National Institute of Justice, the US National Science Foundation, the US Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Canadian Research Council, and the Swiss National Science Foundation.
Attinger is also a reviewer of manuscripts submitted by peer scientists for leading engineering and forensic journals, such as Annual Review in Fluid Mechanics, Applied Physics Letters, Forensic Science International, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Journal of Forensic Sciences, Science, Physical Review Fluids. He has chaired and co-chaired numerous academic conferences. As of 2023, Attinger still provides consulting services to academic research teams in North America and Europe.
Academic awards: Among the awards Attinger has received are a Research Fellowship of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), a “Professor of the Year” Teaching Award from the senior students of mechanical engineering at Iowa State University, an ASME-ICNMM Leadership Recognition Award, a Best Paper award in the New Journal of Physics, the CAREER award of the US National Science Foundation, and the Medal of ETH Zurich for excellent Ph.D. thesis. He was also elected a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
He has given several invited presentations at International Conferences, including 9 keynote lectures and two plenary lectures.
He has been invited as a visiting Professor to top universities worldwide, such as the Swiss Polytechnic Federal Institute Lausanne, Tsinghua University (China), Politecnico di Torino (Italy), and the University of Kyushu (Japan).
An expert in fluid dynamics who got interested in blood traces: Attinger has developed fundamental knowledge and technical applications relevant to Bloodstain Pattern Analysis, Fluid and Energy technologies. Attinger’s Ph.D. thesis advanced knowledge of the impact and solidification of drops on solid walls. The 3.5 years of experimental, numerical and theoretical research were focused on the fluid dynamics of drop impact with simultaneous heat transfer and phase change.
As a faculty member at Columbia University, Attinger was studying the fluid dynamics and drying of drops of common fluids such as coffee, milk, beer and wines. To identify the liquid from the features of the remaining stains, he collaborated with a specialist in machine learning and image analysis. The same year, the National Academy of Sciences mentioned that uncertainties in bloodstain pattern analysis (BPA) were enormous, and advocated for a better understanding of the underlying fluid dynamics. Attinger understood that he could contribute to improving the state of the art. Since then, he has been applying his skills to understand the physics of blood patterns, reconstruct complex bloody events, and reduce and quantify related uncertainties, and building bridges between the fluid dynamics and forensic communities.
BPA training: Dr. Attinger has been trained in elementary and advanced bloodstain pattern analysis, in chemical enhancement of blood traces, and in the visualization and interpretation of blood traces on fabrics. He has performed BPA on actual crime scenes, and on the basis of investigative photographs. Other related skills he acquired through training are statistics for forensics, wound ballistics, 3D crime scene documentation, and expert witness testimony.
BPA scholarship: Attinger’s understanding of the scientific basis of bloodstain pattern analysis (BPA) got noticed by Federal Research Agencies such as the US National Institute of Justice and the US Army Research Office. Between 2009 and 2020, Attinger was the main investigator or co-investigator in four federally funded research projects on BPA, for a total of more than $2 million.
Attinger has authored more than 20 peer-reviewed scientific publications related to BPA. Most of these articles have been published in the world’s leading fluid dynamics and forensic journals, including the Journal of Forensic Sciences of the US Academy of Forensic Sciences.
Attinger has given several scientific reviews and research presentations at conferences of the IABPA (international association of bloodstain pattern analysts).
Dr. Attinger’s work has been featured in several national and international media, including ProPublica, PBS, Popular Science, Maxim, Gizmodo, Fox News, and The New Scientist.
BPA teaching: Attinger has also taught BPA courses for crime scene investigators in Europe and the US. Since 2015, he is serving as an Adjunct Lecturer in the Forensic Science Graduate Program at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, where he teaches the fluid dynamics of BPA. Dr. Attinger has taught in French, English, German, and Spanish.
BPA service: Attinger has also served as a Member of a Scientific & Technical Review Panel (STRP) in the Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC). The work involved evaluating a proposed OSAC standard on methodology in Bloodstain Pattern Analysis. He was also a guest of the Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC), Bloodstain Pattern Analysis group, and Reviewer of research proposals for the US National Institute of Justice.
BPA expert: Attinger has reviewed bloodstain evidence for court cases in several US states and in European countries. He has been qualified as an expert witness in US State courts, serving either the prosecution or defense.
Professional Societies: Dr. Attinger is a member of the International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts, the Caribbean Association of Forensic Sciences, the International Association for Identification, and the American Physical Society (Division of Fluid Dynamics). He is also a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
A full resume is available upon request.