Sarah Cresswell
(She/Her)
Head of Chemistry and Forensic Science
Sarah is an academic at Griffith University in Queensland and has taught and researched in the field of forensic chemistry for over twenty years. Her research students are engaged in a wide range of projects from novel synthetic pathways for illicit substances and the use of emerging technologies in the analysis of such compounds, to the use of isotopes to determine whether packaging materials associated with criminal enterprises can be linked back to the manufacturer or to other packages from the same batch.
She is passionate about lifelong education and after completing her Bachelor of Applied and Analytical Chemistry and PhD in Chemistry, she returned to university ten-years later to undertake a Bachelor of Laws.
To encourage school students to study science she developed a popular Campus Scene Investigation (CSI:Griffith) activity which welcomes 100 students each year to the university to record a crime scene, undertake chemical and biological tests and attempt to determine who was responsible. Sarah believes that developing a sense of wonder and excitement for learning is key to educational success and she encourages all students to become independent learners by invoking in them a desire to know more.
Outside of work, Sarah enjoys spending time with her family and her love of the outdoors led her to become a Scout Leader allowing time for her and her daughter to get out and enjoy the local environment first-hand. She cannot resist incorporating science into Scouts and is called upon to run science bases at District scouting events!
