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Tashjian Leads Forensic Team At U.S. Customs

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  • Tashjian Leads Forensic Team At U.S. Customs

    TASHJIAN LEADS FORENSIC TEAM AT U.S. CUSTOMS
    Lori Cinar

    http://www.armenianweekly.com/2012/08/01/tashjian-leads-forensic-team-at-u-s-customs/
    August 1, 2012

    Television shows like CSI or NCIS have are increasingly popular because
    of their ability to captivate us with the combined use of science,
    crime, and the law. Although often loosely based on real scenarios
    and proceedings, they sometimes leave us with the feeling that these
    things only happen on TV-but not for Elizabeth Tashjian.

    Elizabeth Tashjian Tashjian, who is the forensic team leader at the
    U.S. Customs and Border Protection Laboratory in New Jersey gets
    to experience those types of situations on a smaller scale almost
    every day.

    Born in Queens, N.Y., Tashjian and her family moved to New Jersey
    by the time she started school. As a teenager, she attended Rutgers
    University, earning a degree in biochemistry, and began working as a
    color chemist soon afterward. Yet, Tashjian admits she was interested
    in finding a more satisfying and challenging career, which is why
    she began working for the U.S. government at the Customs and Border
    Protection at Newark Airport.

    When asked what her job description covers, she produces an interesting
    list of tasks: "I analyze unknown substances, controlled substances,
    and pharmaceuticals for identification. I develop and lift fingerprints
    on evidence, and sometimes we process crime scenes. I also work with
    digital forensics, which is the analysis of digital media evidence
    such as cell phones, hard drives, thumb drives, and memory cards."

    I immediately imagine some scenes in a dimly lit lab on a popular
    crime investigation show. However, Tashjian doesn't seem like one of
    those dramatic cops bent on catching the criminal. "Fortunately our
    laboratory does not have to respond to gruesome or tragic types of
    scenes," she explains.

    Her dedication to her career and excitement over science are what
    really stand out. "I really enjoy digital forensics," she says. "I
    was fortunate enough to be one of the few people selected to receive
    the training when it first began. So far, my greatest achievement at
    work has been my promotion to team leader last year."

    One of her biggest motivations has been her family and the way her
    parents have regarded her success. "Growing up, my parents were very
    traditional and very strict," she explains (something we can all relate
    to). "I studied very hard in school and I was driven by the fact that
    Armenian parents are hard to please! It has definitely affected my
    life." She even cites "honor" as one of her motivations, interpreting
    her success as a chemist as her personal way of honoring her ancestors.

    Sifting through the novelty of this unique line of work, it's obvious
    that Tashjian is just a hard-working woman, a wife and mother of
    three, who takes pride in what she does. She admits that balancing
    motherhood and her career are very difficult, but she gets by with the
    help of her family. "[My mother] is an expert, being that she had five
    [children] of her own!" she adds.

    It's important that her kids attend Armenian school at their church
    and speak Armenian at home. Like most mothers, she often finds that
    "sticking to the routine" becomes a habit, but she plans to one day
    travel to Beirut with her family to visit relatives.

    >From running around as a busy New Jersey mom, to analyzing fingerprints
    and computer hardware in a lab, it's clear that Elizabeth Tashjian is
    finding a winning balance between her Armenian roots and her exciting,
    successful career.

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