Summerton native McClary elected president of AAFS

Carl R. McClary, MS, has been elected president of The American Academy of Forensic Sciences, AAFS. A multidisciplinary professional organization of over 6,500 members worldwide, the AAFS provides leadership to advance science and its application to the legal system. The mission of the Academy is to provide collaborative research, quality education, and recognized leadership to advance forensic science and to inform its application to the law. Comprising the AAFS are 11 sections representing various forensic disciplines such as Toxicology, Questioned Documents, Pathology/Biology, Criminalistics, and Digital and Multimedia Sciences. One program found within the AAFS is the Forensic Science Foundation that provides grants to students, members, and teachers. Another, the AAFS Humanitarian and Human Rights Resource Center seeks to utilize the assets of the AAFS to promote the application of contemporary forensic science and forensic medicine principles to global humanitarian and/or human rights projects requiring special assistance. Mr. McClary, originally from Summerton, SC, is a forensic document examiner with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, ATF, in its forensic science laboratory in Atlanta, Georgia. He is certified by the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners, ABFDE. A fellow of the Academy, he has been a board member since 2015 and formerly held the positions of Treasurer and Vice President as well as committee positions including the chairmanship of the Content Digitization ad hoc committee. He obtained his master’s in forensic science degree from the Oklahoma State University and a BA in Psychology from the University of South Carolina. He is a former South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, SLED, special agent, having worked in its forensic science laboratory in Columbia.