Rural Digital Forensics Initiative

About the Project

Rural Digital Forensics Initiative (RDFI) 

Supported by the U.S. Department of Justice, the RDFI is actively developing a training lab solution for digital forensics that is applicable to rural communities across the United States. This ongoing initiative includes the establishment of a working digital forensics laboratory and digital content production studio on the University of Southern Mississippi campus. Together, these facilities are being used to create training content for law enforcement to better understand digital forensics processes and capabilities, supporting rural law enforcement efforts nationally. 

Our Curriculum

The RDFI curriculum will cover a multitude of topics related to digital forensics: 

• Purpose and importance of digital forensics for law enforcement
• Digital forensics technologies and current technical systems
• Digital forensics laboratory capabilities
• Chain of custody and warrants for digital forensics
• Ethical considerations for collecting and processing digital evidence
• Device collection protocols: identification and collection
• Storage and management of digital devices
• Device processing for minor and major evidence extraction
• Reading and processing digital forensics reports
• Courtroom testimony related to digital evidence
  
  

RDFI Leadership Team

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Accessing RDFI Training (Forthcoming)

Short-form RDFI content is available on the following social media platforms: 

 

Our Student Team

Vivek Paudel 

Assistant Producer

Major: Communications (PhD)

Responsibilities: Vivek serves as the assistant producer for the RDFI Studio, coordinating efforts between team members, negotiating production timelines, and providing years of production expertise to studio operations. 

William Wroten

Laboratory Graduate Assistant

Major: Computer Science (MS)

Responsibilities: Will assists in the daily operations of the RDFI Digital Forensics Laboratory, supporting ongoing police investigations by managing lab resources, while also coordinating lab and studio functions. 

Parker Andrews

Audio Specialist 

Major: Media and Entertainment Arts (Sound & Recording Arts) 

Responsibilities: Parker provides audio specialization to the RDFI Studio Team, alongside supporting preproduction and postproduction activities, ensuring high-quality standards for RDFI training materials. 

Alexander Bradley

Outreach Coordinator

Major: Forensics (Criminal Justice)

Responsibilities: Alex coordinates with law enforcement stakeholders to identify needs, assess capabilities, build partnerships, enabling RDFI to develop training materials that align with law enforcement priorities. 

Blake Brooks 

Video Specialist

Major: Media and Entertainment Arts (Video Arts)

Responsibilities: Blake provides video specialization to the RDFI Studio Team (alongside Ashley and Elisha), informing preproduction and postproduction activities and ensuring high-quality standards for RDFI training materials. 

Danielle Duffield

Content Strategist

Major: Communication Studies

Responsibilities: Danielle develops and manages the content distribution strategy for RDFI materials, including a social media pipeline for short-form content and a publishing framework for a long-form training resources. 

Ashley Lewis 

Video Specialist 

Majors: Forensics (Criminal Justice) | Media and Entertainment Arts (Video Arts)

Responsibilities: Ashley provides video specialization to the RDFI Studio Team (alongside Blake and Elisha), informing preproduction and postproduction activities and ensuring high-quality standards for RDFI training materials. 

Elisha Williams

Video Specialist 

Majors: Communication Studies | Mass Communication and Journalism

Responsibilities: Elisha provides video specialization to the RDFI Studio Team (alongside Ashley and Blake), informing preproduction and postproduction activities and ensuring high-quality stands for the RDFI training materials.