About this Event
Welcome to Curiosity Brews!
Join us for an engaging evening where makers, trailblazers, practitioners, and obsessive deep‑dive thinkers share their most captivating stories at your local bar in Houston!
Hosted by Curiosity Brews.
🗓️ Date: November 10, 2026
🕡 Talk at 7:00 PM (Doors Open at 6:30 PM)
📍 Location: Wakefield Crowbar (954 Wakefield Dr, Houston, TX 77018)
📚 Talk: Houston's CSI: Getting Forensic Science Right
🎤 Speaker: Prof. Sandra Guerra Thompson, University of Houston Law Center. Special Guest: Dr. Peter Stout, the President and CEO of the Houston Forensic Science Center.
DESCRIPTION:
Houston's crime lab went from one of America's worst to a national model. Hear the stories behind it from the people who made it happen.
In 2003, the New York Times called Houston's police crime lab one of the worst in the country. Analysts made real mistakes. Evidence got lost or mixed up. People went to Pr*son because of shoddy work.
Prof. Sandra Guerra Thompson joined the board that built a new lab to replace it. Her book, Cops in Lab Coats, argues that crime labs should answer to science, not to the police department that runs them.
But a new lab couldn't fix everything. Scientists across the country were finding a bigger problem. Most crime lab tests, like matching fingerprints or bullets, had never gone through real scientific testing to prove how accurate they actually are.
Prof. Thompson will share real stories from inside the system, from false confessions to wrongful convictions, among others.
Join Curiosity Brews for a night with Prof. Thompson and special guest Dr. Peter Stout, the President and CEO of the Houston Forensic Science Center. Come hear how Houston replaced one of the worst crime labs in the country with one that checks its own work, and why that matters the next time someone goes to trial.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Prof. Sandra Guerra Thompson is the Newell H. Blakely Professor of Law and the former Director of the Criminal Justice Institute at the University of Houston Law Center. She has taught and published in the areas of criminal law and evidence for 36 years. She started her career as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, NY.
In 1996, she became the first Latina tenured law professor in the State of Texas and the fourth in the nation.
In 2012, Professor Thompson was appointed as a founding member of the Board of Directors of the city’s newly created independent crime lab, the Houston Forensic Science Center (HFSC).
Drawing on her experience with HFSC, she wrote a book titled Cops in Lab Coats: Curbing Wrongful Convictions through Independent Forensic Laboratories.
In 2020, she was appointed by U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal as Deputy Monitor for the federal consent decree in O'Donnell v. Harris County, which has transformed Harris County’s misdemeanor bail system.
ABOUT THE SPECIAL GUEST:
Dr. Peter Stout is the President and CEO of the Houston Forensic Science Center. He has more than 25 years of experience in forensic science and forensic toxicology. He is a past president of the Society of Forensic Toxicologists and is currently president of the Texas Association of Crime Lab Directors. Dr. Stout holds a doctorate in toxicology and has led HFSC since 2017.
Grab a drink, meet curious minds, and explore interesting ideas at Curiosity Brews!
AGENDA
6:30 PM – Doors open: find a seat (open seating!), order food & drinks, and expect a bar line—arriving early is key. Meet and mingle with someone new!
7:00 PM – Talk begins
7:45 PM – Audience Q&A
8:00 PM – Have 1:1 time with the speaker, mingle with fellow guests, and order another round
8:30 PM – Wrap up
*** A CAUSE CLOSE TO MY HEART ***
Curiosity Brews was launched by our very first speaker, Bridgette Mongeon — sculptor and founder of Houston Women's Hiking Group, a community of 20,000+ hikers. Hiking has personally been a lifeline for me, and Bridgette is now working on something ambitious: two life-size bronze statues honoring Emma "Grandma Gatewood," the remarkable 67-year-old grandmother who in 1955 became the first woman to solo thru-hike the entire Appalachian Trail. To honor that connection, I'm donating a portion of the proceeds from every Curiosity Brews event to this tribute. If her story moves you too, you can contribute directly at
- Jeanne Pi
Event venue & nearby stays
954 Wakefield Dr, 954 Wakefield Drive, Houston, United States
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