Nancy McCombs received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Biological Sciences with a minor in Chemistry through the California State University, Fresno and was employed as a Firearm and Toolmark Examiner for the California State Department of Justice (DOJ) from 1995 to 2020. Nancy was employed as the Program Manager for the DOJ California Criminalistics Institute (CCI) in charge of Firearms/Impressions, Crime Scenes, Microscopy/Trace and Health/Safety from 2020-2023. 
 
Nancy has instructed courses and workshops for numerous agencies both inside and outside the U.S.A.  
 
Ms. McCombs is certified by the Association of Firearms and Tool Mark Examiners (AFTE) in Firearms, Toolmarks, and Gunshot Residue (GSR), is a distinguished lifetime member of AFTE, and served as AFTE President and the Board of Directors. She has received AFTE Member of the Year Award for outstanding contributions to the Association, the Steve Molnar Award for contributions to the AFTE Journal, and the Calvin H. Goddard Award for outstanding contributions to the field of firearms identification. 

 

Nancy is a member of the California Association of Criminalists (CAC) where she served as Editor-in-Chief and on the Ethics Committee. She has been certified as a Diplomate through the American Board of Criminalistics (ABC) since 1998 and served on the Scientific Working Group for Firearms and Toolmarks (SWGGUN) and the DOJ Firearms Technical Advisory Group (FTAG). Nancy is currently serving as an affiliate member on the Firearms and Toolmarks Subcommittee for the Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC).  
 
Nancy has presented and published numerous technical papers. A detailed curriculum vitae may be provided upon request.