Skip Palenik is an American analytical microscopist

Microscopy

Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view samples and objects that cannot be seen with the unaided eye...

, forensic scientist, lecturer, and author. He is most famous for providing trace evidence analysis and forensic microscopy for many high-profile cases including the Oklahoma City Bombing

Oklahoma City bombing

The Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19...

, Unabomber investigation, Hillside Strangler

Hillside Strangler

The Hillside Strangler is the media epithet for two men, cousins Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono, who were convicted of kidnapping, raping, torturing, and killing girls and women ranging in age from 12 to 28 years old during a four-month period from late 1977 to early 1978...

 investigation and the JonBenet Ramsey

JonBenét Ramsey

JonBenét Patricia Ramsey was an American child beauty pageant contestant who was murdered in her home in Boulder, Colorado, in 1996. The six-year-old's body was found in the basement of the family home nearly eight hours after she was reported missing. She had been struck on the head and strangled...

 case, and for his contributions to books and television programs including TruTV's Forensic Files

Forensic Files

Forensic Files is an American documentary-style series which reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and even outbreaks of illness. The show is broadcast on truTV, narrated by Peter Thomas, and produced by Medstar Television, in association with truTV...

(to which he is a frequent contributor).

Career

Palenik has worked on many of the most famous murder and mystery cases in recent American memory. His resume includes work on: the Atlanta child murders, the Air India Bombing, JonBenet Ramsey

JonBenét Ramsey

JonBenét Patricia Ramsey was an American child beauty pageant contestant who was murdered in her home in Boulder, Colorado, in 1996. The six-year-old's body was found in the basement of the family home nearly eight hours after she was reported missing. She had been struck on the head and strangled...

 case, 1985 Narita International Airport bombing (Tokyo), Hillside Strangler

Hillside Strangler

The Hillside Strangler is the media epithet for two men, cousins Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono, who were convicted of kidnapping, raping, torturing, and killing girls and women ranging in age from 12 to 28 years old during a four-month period from late 1977 to early 1978...

 (LA), Oklahoma City bombing

Oklahoma City bombing

The Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19...

, Ivan the Terrible (Jerusalem), Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King (reinvestigation by U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations), Unabomber, the disappearance of Helen Brach

Helen Brach

Helen Vorhees Brach , was an American multi-millionairess widow whose wealth had come from marrying into the E. J. Brach & Sons Candy Company fortune; she endowed the Helen V. Brach Foundation to promote animal welfare in 1974....

, the “Kiki” Camarena Murder Case

Enrique Camarena

Enrique "Kiki" Camarena Salazar Enrique "Kiki" Camarena Salazar Enrique "Kiki" Camarena Salazar (Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico July 26, 1947 - c. (Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, February 9, 1985) was an undercover agent for the United States Drug Enforcement Administration who was abducted on...

 and the Green River Serial Murders.

Palenik has also taught microscopy at Illinois Institute of Technology

Illinois Institute of Technology

Illinois Institute of Technology, commonly called Illinois Tech or IIT, is a private Ph.D.-granting university located in Chicago, Illinois, with programs in engineering, science, psychology, architecture, business, communications, industrial technology, information technology, design, and law...

, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the McCrone Research Institute

McCrone Research Institute

The McCrone Research Institute is a not-for-profit educational and research organization for microscopy located in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded by Dr. Walter C. McCrone in 1960...

, and has contributed to many books and publications. In 1992, Palenik founded a limited liability company

Limited liability company

A limited liability company is a flexible form of enterprise that blends elements of partnership and corporate structures. It is a legal form of company that provides limited liability to its owners in the vast majority of United States jurisdictions...

, Microtrace LLC, to provide microscopy, microchemistry, and forensic consulting services to a variety of clients.