KINGSTON, R.I. – Nov. 7, 2025 – Kirk Yeager, senior forensic examiner of explosives for the FBI, will return to the University of Rhode Island on Friday, Nov. 14, to discuss explosive topics as part of the University’s ongoing fall Forensic Science Partnership lecture series.

Yeager’s talk, titled “Mean, Motive, Opportunity: The Timeless Terrorist Trifecta,” will take place from 3:30-5 p.m. in Room 100 of the Richard E. Beaupre Center for Chemical & Forensic Sciences, 140 Flagg Road on the Kingston Campus. The lecture series welcomes many speakers representing specialized areas of forensic science who present their real-life experiences within their fields.

The seminars are offered for credit but also open to the public at no cost. Those who cannot attend in person may view Yeager’s lecture live online.

Yeager, who has worked for the FBI since 2000 and is a regular speaker during URI’s annual series, has three decades of experience with explosives and improvised explosive devices, and has presented more than 250 lectures at conferences and international meetings. 

During his time at the FBI, Yeager analyzed the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Yeager also recently visited the site of the Oct. 10 deadly explosion at the Accurate Energetic Systems manufacturing plant in Tennessee. Yeager also had reviewed a number of high-profile cases, such as the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

Yeager’s lecture will be followed by a talk on Nov. 21 by Michael Jagoda ’91, URI assistant vice president of public safety and chief of police. Jagoda will discuss his career, from his time with the Connecticut State Police to being named a finalist for national Campus Safety Director of the Year.

A Dec. 5 talk by Alec Wyers of the Rhode Island State Crime Laboratory will conclude the lecture series’ 2025 schedule. 

Several other URI community members have presented lectures this fall: Anthony Amore ’89, director of security, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston; Victor Fay-Wolfe, professor of computer science; Otto Gregory, professor of chemical engineering; and Cara Lupino M.S. ’04, chief forensic scientist, Rhode Island Department of Health. Their lectures are available online.

To be added to the Forensic Science Seminar Series’ email list for the spring or future speakers, contact kristen.curry@uri.edu.