Publications & Presentations

Noblis employees are passionate about our disciplines and it shows in our publications and presentations of research and thought leadership. We research, write, publish, share ideas and thought leadership and thrive on the application of our expertise. Our motivation is internal and mission-oriented; it stems from a desire to excel and realize results.

    Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

    Matthew Kersting and Ajay Patrikar, “Condition-based maintenance using unsupervised time-series anomaly detection“, presented at the Fleet Maintenance & Modernization Symposium, September 2023.


    Noblis, “Artificial Intelligence Field Guide for Public Sector Enterprises“, first edition, published in June 2023.

    Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics

    Julie Ard, Principal Insider Threat Researcher, Noblis, “Capability-Based Insider Threat Prevention“, presentation given at INFORMS Annual Meeting, November 11, 2020.


    Samuel Gross (Noblis), Joshua Harrington, and Laurel Minot, “Sums of Polynomial Residues”,  Irish Mathematical Society Bulletin, 79, Summer 2017, pp 31-37.


    Samuel Gross, Daniel Negron, Mark Sanders, Erica Maciejewski, “Topics in Cryptography”, presentation at BloomCon 2017, digital forensics conference at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania.



    Negron, D. (Noblis) and M. Collins (RedJack), “Mushrooms Not Honey: Making Deceptive Defenses More Toxic for Attackers.” (YouTube video) Presented at RSA Conference. February 2017.


    Samuel S. Gross (Noblis) and Joshua Harrington (Department of Mathematics Cedar Crest College), “Special Numbers in the Ring Zn.” Journal of Integer Sequences, Vol. 18 (2015), Article 15.11.3.

    Energy and Environment

    Saif Sadeq, LEED AP, LFA, Principal, Sustainability & Building Performance, Noblis; “GSA tool can help green building professionals with decarbonization goals“, published on usgbc.org, August 30, 2023.


    Dr. Mark Stapleton, Senior Environmental Remediation Engineer (Noblis); co-authored “Leveraging Sequence Stratigraphy to Accelerate Site Remediation: Pliocene Citronelle Formation, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, USA“, journal Groundwater Monitoring & Remediation, July 24, 2023.


    Stapleton, JM. “Applications of Environmental Sequence Stratigraphy (ESS) to Remediation Design and Optimization,” presented at the Federal Remediation Technologies Roundtable Best Practices and Recent Technical Advances in Site Characterization and Conceptual Site Model Development at U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters in Washington D.C., May 16, 2023.


    Marqusee, Ph.D., Jeffrey, Craig Schultz, and Dorothy Robyn, “Power Begins at Home: Assured Energy for U.S. Military Bases,” report commissioned by The Pew Charitable Trusts, January 12, 2017.


    Ronald C. Porter (Noblis), R. Hunter Anderson, G. Cornell Long, Janet K. Anderson (Air Force Civil Engineer Center). “Occurrence of select perfluoroalkyl substances at U.S. Air Force aqueous film-forming foam release sites other than fire-training areas: Field-validation of critical fate and transport properties”, Chemosphere, pp. 678-685. May 2016.

    Forensic Science and Biometrics

    DNA mixture

    • Hicklin RA, Richetelli N, Emerick BL, Bever RA, Davoren JM (2023). Variation in Assessments of Suitability and Number of Contributors for DNA Mixtures. Forensic Science International: Genetics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsigen.2023.102892 (paid access)
    • Noblis. (2023). “DNAmix 2021 Archive.” https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/B3MZW (open access)
    • Brinkac LM, Richetelli N, Davoren JM, Bever RA, Hicklin RA, (2023) “DNAmix 2021: Laboratory policies, procedures, and casework scenarios summary and dataset”, Data in Brief 48(109150), 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2023.109150 (open access)
    • Noblis, “Laboratory Policies, Procedures, and Casework Scenario Decisions Relevant to DNA Mixture Interpretation: Data from the DNAmix 2021 Study,” OSF, 2023. http://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/87SM4 (open access)

    Latent print examination

    Evaluations of latent print examiners

    Latent print quality

    • Kalka ND, Beachler M, Hicklin RA. “LQMetric: A Latent Fingerprint Quality Metric for Predicting AFIS Performance and Assessing the Value of Latent Fingerprints.” Journal of Forensic Identification 70(4) 443-463, Oct 2020. (local download)
    • Kalka ND, Hicklin RA. “On relative distortion in fingerprint comparison.” Forensic Science International 244(2014), 78-84, Nov 2014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2014.08.007 (paid access; local download)
    • Hicklin RA, Buscaglia J, Roberts MA. “Assessing the Clarity of Friction Ridge Impressions”; Forensic Science International 226(1-3):106-17; March 2013.   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2012.12.015 (paid access; local download)
    • Hicklin RA, et al; “Latent Fingerprint Quality: A Survey of Examiners”; Journal of Forensic Identification 61(4), July 2011. (local download)

    Latent print casework metrics

    • Kiebuzinski GI, Hicklin RA, Taylor M. “Making a Case for Effective Latent Print Casework Metrics.” IDentification News, 47(2):12-13, Spring 2017. (local download)

    Latent print specifications

    • Chapman WJ, Hicklin RA, Kiebuzinski GI, Komarinski PD, Mayer-Splain J, Taylor M, Wallner R. “Latent Interoperability Transmission Specification”; NIST Special Publication 1152, January 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.1152 (open access)
    • Chapman WJ, Hicklin RA, Kiebuzinski GI, Komarinski PD, Mayer-Splain J, Taylor M, Wallner R. “Markup Instructions for Extended Friction Ridge Features”; NIST Special Publication 1151, January 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.1151 (open access)
    • Chapman WJ, Hicklin RA, Kiebuzinski GI, Komarinski PD, Mayer-Splain J, Taylor M, Wallner R. “Extended Feature Set Profile Specification”; NIST Special Publication 1134, January 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.1134 (open access)

    Latent print identification system evaluations

    • Indovina M, Dvornychenko V, Hicklin RA, Kiebuzinski GI. “ELFT‐EFS Evaluation of Latent Fingerprint Technologies: Extended Feature Sets, Evaluation #2.” NIST Interagency Report 7859, May 2012. https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.IR.7859 (open access)
    • Indovina M, Hicklin RA, Kiebuzinski GI; “ELFT‐EFS Evaluation of Latent Fingerprint Technologies: Extended Feature Sets, Evaluation #1”; NIST Interagency Report 7775, March 2011. https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.IR.7775 (open access)

    Footwear examination

    • Hicklin RA, McVicker BC, Parks C, LeMay J, Richetelli N, Smith M, Buscaglia J, Schwartz Perlman R, Peters EM, Eckenrode BA. “Accuracy, Reproducibility, and Repeatability of Forensic Footwear Examiner Decisions.” Forensic Science International, 339(111418), 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2022.111418 (paid access; local download)
    • McVicker BC, Parks C, LeMay J, Eckenrode BA, Hicklin RA. “A Method for Characterizing Questioned Footwear Impression Quality.” Journal of Forensic Identification 71 (3), 2021, 205-216. (local download)

    Handwriting examination

    • Hicklin RA, Eisenhart L, Richetelli N, Belcastro P, Burkes TM, Smith M, Buscaglia J, Perlman RS, Peters EM. (2022) “Reply to Kukucka: Calculating error rates in forensic handwriting examiner decisions.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(52), e2217508119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2217508119 (open access)
    • Hicklin RA, Eisenhart L, Richetelli N, Miller MD, Belcastro P, Burkes TM, Parks C, Smith M, Buscaglia J, Peters EM, Perlman RS, Abonamah JV, Eckenrode BA. “Accuracy and Reliability of Forensic Handwriting Comparisons.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119 (32) e2119944119, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2119944119 (open access)

    Bloodstain pattern analysis

    • Hicklin RA, Winer KR, Kish PE, Parks CL, Chapman W, Dunagan K, Richetelli N, Epstein EG, Ausdemore MA, Busey TA. “Accuracy and Reproducibility of Conclusions by Forensic Bloodstain Pattern Analysts” Forensic Science International 2021, 110856, ISSN 0379-0738. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2021.110856 (open access)
    • Noblis, “Bloodstain Pattern Analysis Black Box Study Dataset”. OSF, 2020. https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/2ckhw (open access)

    Forensic science (general)

    • Chapman WJ, Hicklin RA, Taylor M. “Beginners Guide to Biometric and Forensic Science Human Subjects Research Protections.” NIST Special Publication 1289, January 2023. https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.1289 (open access)
    • Hicklin RA, Kiebuzinski GI, Taylor M. “Best practices in the collection and use of biometric and forensic datasets.” NIST Interagency Report 8361, March 2021. https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.IR.8361 (open access)

    Facial recognition

    Iris recognition

    Life Sciences

    Shanna Ratnesar-Shumate, Ph.D. and Justin Taylor, Ph.D. Noblis; “Aerosol Science of Infectious Diseases: What We Learned and What We Still Need to Know Based on Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic“, poster presented at the 24th Congress of the International Society for Aerosols in Medicine (ISAM), October 2-6, 2023.


    Daniel Antonio Negrón, Nicholas Tolli, Stephanie Guertin, Suzanne Wollen-Roberts, Shane Mitchell, Jared Haas, Katharine Jennings, Bradley Abramson, Lauren Brinkac, David Ashford. “Clade-Specific MPXV PCR Assays“, published on bioRxiv, August 2023.


    Older publications, presentations, posters and case studies related to Noblis’ life sciences work and research can be found on bioportal.noblis.org.

    Telecommunications and Networking

    Folkedal, T.C. “Valuing the Butterfly: Seven Steps Government Agencies Can Use to Get Better Returns on Technology Transformations,” pscouncil.org, May 2020.


    Soltys, J., “Technology’s Central Nervous System Needs Attention Now,” gcn.com, February, 2020.


    Folkedal, T.C.   “Cloud Economics”, Cloud Strategy, Winter 2016.


    Morris, W.; Petersons, I.; Soltys, J. “A Systematic Approach to Protest Proof Acquisitions,”  Acquisition Excellence Conference, March 2015.


     Soltys, J.  “The Value of a ‘Home Inspector’ for IT Acquisitions,”  Federal Computer Weekly (FCW), May 2013.

    Transportation and Autonomous Systems

    Contributor(s): National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Transportation Research Board; National Cooperative Highway Research Program; Meenakshy Vasudevan; James O’Hara; Haley Townsend; Sampson Asare; Syihan Muhammad; Kaan Ozbay; Di Yang; Jingqin Gao; Abdullah Kurkcu; Fan Zuo, “Algorithms to Convert Basic Safety Messages into Traffic Measures“, published in the National Cooperative Highway Research Program Annual Report, 2022.


    Andy Lacher and Alexander Murray, “Trusted Information Integrity as an Enabler of Autonomous Aviation Systems”, paper presented at AUVSI XPONENTIAL, May 6, 2021.


    A. Hudak, S. James and R. Raheb; “Impact of Communication Path Loss to Unmanned Aircraft Swarm Coherency”, paper presented at ICNS Conference, April 20-22, 2021.


    Karl Wunderlich, Ph.D.; “Earned Trust, Priority And The Multi-Machine Maneuver Transaction”; presentation for the Mobility and Blockchain Initiative (MOBI) Innovation Lecture Series, November 2020.


    Karl Wunderlich, Ph.D., Andrew Dudash, David White, James O’Hara, Thomas Mitchell, “Pieces of 8 (Po8) Orchestrated Autonomy Concept: Robot Derby Demonstration”, presented in Munich, Germany as part of the MOBI Grand Challenge, sponsored by the MOBI (Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative) and TIoTA (Trusted IoT Alliance), February 15, 2019.


    Vasudevan, Meenakshy and Michael Brooks, Amy Jacobi, Michael Mercer, and Kathy Thompson. “US-Japan Collaborative Research on Evaluation Tools and Methods.” Published by the U.S. Department of Transportation. April 2016.


    McGurrin, Mike. “Open and shut. Open Traffic Data: oxymoron or new paradigm?” Thinking Highways (North America), pp. 14-16. July 2015.