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Sarah Shuda (Fed)
Research Chemist
Sarah joined the Material Measurement Laboratory at NIST in 2024 as a Research Chemist. Her research is focused in the analysis of drugs and related compounds to support the public safety and public health communities. This includes developing and validating new methods for the identification and quantitation of drugs and adulterants, researching the application of new technologies to the field, the identification of emerging novel psychoactive substances, and efforts to increase standardization in measurements.
Prior to joining NIST, Sarah worked for NMS Labs in their crime lab starting as a Forensic Chemist doing seized drug casework, then as the Forensic Drug Chemistry Training Specialist, and finally as the Technical Director for forensic chemistry. After NMS, Sarah became a Senior Scientist at the Center for Forensic Science Research and Education where she worked on drug chemistry related projects including characterizing fentanyl seized at the US Southwest border and working with public health partners to identify drugs and adulterants in the illicit drug supply.
Sarah is a member of the OSAC Seized Drug subcommittee, ASTM Committees E30 on Forensic Science and E30.14 on Seized Drugs, and the Mid-Atlantic Association of Forensic Scientists, and an affiliate of the American Academy of Forensic Science. She is also certified by the American Board of Criminalistics.