Veteran medical examiner Michael Baden has played a role in some of history's most celebrated investigations, and now he'll share his knowledge with the MTSU community Tuesday, Oct. 21.

Baden, a former New York state medical examiner known for his work investigating high-profile deaths, will speak on "Out of the Grave: Case Studies in Decomposition and Exhumation" at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 21 in the second-floor ballroom of MTSU's Student Union.

The free public talk is part of the university's renowned William M. Bass Legends in Forensic Science Lectureship. A searchable campus map with parking details is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParkingMap14-15.

During his nearly 50-year career, Baden, a host of HBO's "Autopsy," has conducted more than 20,000 autopsies; chaired Congressional forensic pathology panels reinvestigating the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King; provided expert testimony in the deaths of John Belushi, Medgar Evers and Nicole Brown Simpson; and performed a family-requested autopsy on Michael Brown, who was fatally shot Aug. 9 by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer.

Baden, who has worked to publicize the tasks of forensic pathologists and has called for specialized training in pathology for all physicians who conduct autopsies, continues to push for national standards for death investigations and to keep medical examiners' offices science-focused and uninvolved in politics.

He's also the author or co-author of more than 80 professional articles and books, including "Unnatural Death: Confessions of a Medical Examiner" and "Skeleton Justice," and is a Fox News forensic science contributor and reviewer for the New England Journal of Medicine.

The community also can hear a preview of Baden's talk during a special interview set to air Monday, Oct. 13, from 5:30 to 6 p.m. on MTSU's award-winning weekly radio program, "MTSU On the Record," on WMOT-FM (89.5 and http://www.wmot.org). The interview will be rebroadcast from 8 to 8:30 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 19, on WMOT-FM.

MTSU's Forensic Institute for Research and Education, or FIRE, is sponsoring Baden's lecture. The Bass Lecture Series, named for renowned University of Tennessee forensic anthropologist Dr. William M. Bass, brings forensic-science experts to campus each fall and spring.

FIRE's co-sponsors for Baden's lecture are the MTSU Distinguished Lecture Fund, the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Basic and Applied Sciences, the College of Graduate Studies, the College of Health and Behavioral Sciences, the University College, the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, the Department of Criminal Justice and the Middle Tennessee Forensic Science Society.

In addition to the Bass lecture series, MTSU's FIRE, established in 2006, provides regular educational and training opportunities for law enforcement, medical examiners, coroners, attorneys, social workers, and other groups in forensic science and homeland security.

For more information on this lecture or other FIRE programs and events, please contact the FIRE offices at 615-494-7713 or visit http://www.csimtsu.com.