David McCollam is a Chemist - Forensic Examiner in the Explosives Unit at the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia. His more than 20 years of experience in forensics has led him to all corners of the world to process post blast crime scenes and identify chemicals used in terrorist attacks. After graduating from Old Dominion University in December 1994 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemistry, Mr. McCollam joined the FBI in the Office of Public and Congressional Affairs providing tours of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover Building. In August 1995 he transferred to the Chemistry Unit of the FBI Laboratory and began his career in forensic as a chemist in the Chemistry Unit of the FBI Laboratory. Once in the Laboratory, Mr. McCollam began training in the analysis and detection of explosives and assisting in many high profile investigations. In January 2000 he was reassigned to the Explosives Unit where he continued working cases focused on explosives analysis. In July 2004 he became a qualified Chemist - Forensic Examiner. Since then, he has travelled to Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Republic of Georgia, Uganda, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Russia, Philippines, Belgium, and Germany to either work terrorism investigations or collaborate with his counterparts from other international forensic laboratories. Mr. McCollam has assisted in the investigation of Ted Kaczynski (UNABOM); James Holmes Aurora, Colorado apartment search; the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; TWA Flight 800; Egypt Air Flight 990; Kampala, Uganda Bombings, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Bombings. He has been qualified as an expert witness and has testified 12 times, including the evidence admissibility hearing for James Holmes, and the criminal trial of the Boston Marathon bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Mr. McCollam is a member of various professional national forensic committees to include, the Technical Working Group for Fire and Explosives (TWFEX) and a member of the Organization for Scientific Area Committee (OSAC) Fire and Explosions Scene subcommittee. During the analysis of explosives he uses a variety of analytical instruments that include: FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, GC/MS, LC/MS, SEM-EDS, X-ray diffraction, Ion Chromatography, and optical microscopy.

David McCollam forensic chemist explosives unit FBI laboratory

251st National Meeting (2016)

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