Charles is a world recognized authority in Forensic Mathematics - covering complex areas such as DNA identification,
biostatistics, and population genetics. His DNA•VIEW APL based software solution is the acknowledged leader and is
standard worldwide for DNA identification. The software has been used in countless cases amongst others the World Trade
Center victim identification work, Tsunami victim identification in Thailand, mass identification projects
including desaparacito children from El Salvador and war victims in Bosnia.
DNA identification is a fascinating, challenging, and constantly expanding and shifting area of genetics susceptible
to mathematical treatment, and for these reasons well-adapted to APL. The facets of identification include linking crooks
to crimes, bashful fathers to parental responsibilities, grieving families to mass disaster victims and anxious heirs
to family fortunes.
Identification regions of the genome are a set of short DNA neighborhoods ("loci") that are conveniently coded as numbers
which may be analyzed using mathematical programs implementing genetic and population genetic principles. The digital
nature of the genome, in striking contrast to the generally analogue nature of biology, inevitably appeals to the
programmer's intellect.
Consequently the talk, while based on the APL program DNA•VIEW which Charles has developed and distributed world-wide
over the past 20 years, will concentrate on the science and applications more than the implementation.