Smith Purdum

Smith Purdum is the Director of Laboratory Services at EFI Global, where he oversees laboratory operations and the development and implementation of analytical methods for forensic and environmental applications. His professional work focuses on fire debris analysis, overseeing forensic and environmental laboratory analyses, analytical method development, and laboratory quality systems. Separately, as an analytical and forensic chemist, his research interests include the application of chemometrics and machine learning to complex chromatographic data, automated interpretation of GC-MS data, explainable machine learning, and the applications of machine learning in forensic fire debris analysis He is also involved in developing consensus guidance through ASTM International E30.16 subcommittee for the responsible use and validation of artificial intelligence in forensic science. He earned his B.A. in Chemistry from Humboldt State University and his M.S. in Chemistry from California State University, Sacramento, where his graduate research focused on applying machine learning to gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC–MS) data for the identification of fatty acids and ignitable liquid residues in fire debris.