Rate My Professor Rachel Houston

Dr. Houston’s research centers on advancing forensic DNA analysis techniques for challenging samples, such as degraded skeletal remains, embalmed cadavers, and environmentally compromised tissues, as well as non-human DNA applications for individualizing plant materials like Cannabis sativa to differentiate marijuana from hemp, Papaver somniferum, and Kratom products. Notable publications include “An investigation of downstream processing methods for challenging skeletal samples” (Forensic Science International: Genetics, 2024), “Twenty-Eight Days Later: The Recovery of DNA from Human Remains Submerged in Aggressive Household Chemicals” (Journal of Forensic Sciences, 2024), “The development of two fast genotyping assays for the differentiation of hemp from marijuana” (Journal of Forensic Sciences, 2024), “Massively parallel sequencing of Cannabis sativa chloroplast hotspots for forensic typing” (Journal of Cannabis Research, 2022), and “Developmental and internal validation of a novel 13 loci STR multiplex for Cannabis sativa DNA profiling” (Legal Medicine, 2017). She has earned the 3 Minute Thesis People’s Choice Award from SHSU (2018) and the LTC Michael A. Lytle ’77 Academic Prize in Forensic Science Scholarship Fund (2015). Currently, she chairs the Graduate Standards and Admissions Committee, serves on the Institutional Review Board and Department Curriculum Committee, and is a member of the Professional Organization of Scientific Area Committees’ Wildlife Forensic Biology Subcommittee.