Karen Lanning is the Supervisory Physical Scientist/Unit Chief of the Evidence Control Unit of the FBI Laboratory. She obtained a BS in Biology from Fort Hays State University, Hays, KS, in 1987. In 1989 she was employed by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation as a Forensic Scientist. She started with the FBI April 16, 1995 as a Biologist in Trace Evidence Unit. In 2007 she was promoted to her current position. While in the Trace Evidence Unit, she conducted forensic examinations on hairs, fibers, fabric, cordage and wood. She worked more than three thousand cases and provided expert testimony approximately one hundred and fifty times. She taught and lectured throughout the United States and internationally. She serves on the Technical Working Group for the Preservation of Biological Evidence, is on numerous working groups and was the past chair of the Scientific Working Group for Materials Analysis - Hair Sub-Group.