Brian A. Eckenrode (Ph.D. Michigan State University, 1988) is a former research analytical chemist with the FBI’s Research Support Unit in Quantico Virginia and has been in that position for the past 23 years. He is currently a full-time Associate Professor at George Mason University in the Forensics Program of the College of Sciences. Prior to joining the research unit of the FBI at Quantico, Brian was the director of research at Viking Instruments (purchased by Bruker Daltonics in 1999) where he designed and developed fieldable instrumentation based on mass spectrometry for analytical applications in forensics, international chemical weapons treaty verification, and the environment. He directed the company’s software development team and led the design and implementation of the instrument’s automated fieldable volatile organic chemical (VOC) inlet system. While at Viking Instruments, he developed a training course for gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and was involved in training over 300 students/industrial chemists in the operation and maintenance of a state-of-the-art commercial field GC-MS. Prior to joining Viking Instruments, Brian worked as a postdoctoral research assistant at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. While at Oak Ridge, Brian performed research in mass spectrometry and with instrumentation for the determination of trace quantities of organics (explosives) in air, gas phase ion chemistry, and positron ionization using ion traps and ion mobility mass spectrometry. At Michigan State, while working on his doctorate, Brian constructed and tested a new high speed hybrid MS/MS instrument that used time array detection for full MS/MS data field mapping on the chromatographic time scale. Brian has received several awards in research from the FBI including the FBI Director’s Award for Scientific Achievement. He has won the Merck Index Award for recognition in chemical research, an Analytical Chemistry Award from Canisius College, and a Merit Level Teaching Award from Michigan State University. Brian was an associate editor for the Field Analytical and Chemical Technologies journal for five years and has over 90 publications and presentations to date. His most recent contributions to the literature are in the form of two book chapters in the book: Canines: the Original Biosensors. His research interests are in the development of new analytical instrumentation and methods for bio-marker detection (disease state determinations), human breath and whole-body VOC trace organic analyses in the field, new developments in GC-MS including fast-GC, chip-based mass spectrometry, Raman spectroscopy, solid phase microextraction, and miniaturized system development. He has explored the use of hyperspectral imaging for forensic purposes and the development of new DNA genotyping methods employing mass spectrometry. He is now active in employing high-resolution mass spectrometry for analyzing non-specific VOCs in human breath, quantitative mass spectrometry for determining what constitutes the type and levels of human decomposition chemistry, rapid and field analysis of opioids using mass spectrometry methods and exploring how aging of blood and fingerprints can be used for criminal investigations. He has published several book chapters and a most recent (2022) chapter on the development of a chemical model for human scent.