STEVEN A. SYMES, PhD, DABFA
New Address
Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute
Mercyhurst College
501 E. 38th Street
Erie , PA 16546-0001
Office Phone: 814/824-3369
Cell: 814/270-9458
ssymes@mercyhurst.edu
http://MAI.mercyhurst.edu
Adjunct Faculty Address
Department of Anthropology
University of Tennessee
252 South Stadium Hall
Knoxville , TN 37996-0720
Office Phone: 865/974-4408
Steven A. Symes, Ph.D., recently accepted a faculty position with the Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa., and will lend his expertise to a new landmark master’s program in Forensic and Biological Anthropology and an undergraduate program in Applied Forensic Sciences. He brings to Mercyhurst a distinguished career in which he has taught, published extensively, lectured worldwide and served as a consultant to pathologists, attorneys and investigators in numerous states and Canada .
In addition to his teaching obligations, Dr. Symes will assist in conducting forensic anthropology cases for coroners, medical examiners and state police in Pennsylvania as well as neighboring states. Likewise, he will continue to consult and lecture nationally and internationally, showcasing his singular expertise in skeletal trauma, dismemberment and mutilation. He also is adjunct faculty with the Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Before coming to Mercyhurst, Dr. Symes spent 16 years as forensic anthropologist for the medical examiner’s office at the Regional Forensic Center for Shelby County, Tennessee, and 21 western Tennessee counties.
He has been involved with hands-on forensic anthropology since 1979 when Dr. William M. Bass, founder of the Forensic Anthropology Center at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and considered by many to be America’s leading forensic scientist, invited him on his first case. He quickly became Dr. Bass’ forensic graduate assistant, a post he held for the next four years. Both his master’s and doctoral degrees in physical anthropology were earned at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville .
In 1997, based on his personal and professional record of education and training, experience, and achievement, Dr. Symes received the 57th certificate in North America, admitting him as a Diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Anthropology.
Dr. Symes’ interests and research involve human skeletal biology with an emphasis on forensic tool mark and fracture pattern interpretation in bone. His expertise is in sharp force trauma, i.e., saw and knife marks on bone and cartilage in instances of violent death; and dismemberment and mutilation. Other areas of expertise include blunt force, ballistic, burned and healing trauma in bone.
Dr. Symes has lectured, examined, or testified on trauma cases in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, Indonesia, Kosovo, and Europe. Recently, he applied his interests in bone trauma and healing by organizing a multidisciplinary symposium on the history of child abuse recognition at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.
Other interests include taphonomical influences of recent, historic and prehistoric skeletons, bloodstain pattern analysis, and 35 mm and digital laboratory and crime scene photography.
Dr. Symes is a sought-after consultant in criminal cases and, as such, has been qualified as an expert for both the prosecution and defense in the fields of forensic anthropology and bloodstain pattern analysis. He also has been involved in crime scene photography consults. As a result of his specialty in criminal dismemberment and mutilation, Dr. Symes has worked numerous cases of serial homicides. A notable example is Crown vs. Paul Bernardo (Symes 1998), a case of serial abduction and homicide in the Toronto, Ontario, Canada area.
