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Introduction
Twenty-ve years ago when the authors began practicing forensic engineering, the term
forensic was not widely known. Today, when we are asked what we do for a living and we
respond saying we are forensic engineers, it oen confuses people because they have a mis-
conception about the work we do. is misconception is partly due to the forensic programs
that are shown on television and partly due to the misunderstanding of the term forensic.
Most of the television programs where the term forensic is introduced deal with DNA and
deaths of individuals. us, most people correlate the term forensic with the work that labo-
ratory a