CSI 101: Campbell students learn about crime scene investigation

A candy wrapper smeared with chocolate, a strand of hair, some woolen fibers, a fingerprint on a coffee cup—clues that students in Campbell University’s “Introduction to Forensic Science” course must use to determine the time, cause and perpetrator of a murder.With the aid of an eerie abandoned house filled with blood evidence (pigs are raised especially for this purpose), ransom notes, poisoned drinks and other crime scene materials, students wearing latex gloves and goggles apply the skills they’ve learned in the classroom and the laboratory—DNA analysis, fingerprinting, blood spatter analysis, ink stain analysis and other methodologies.They learn many fascinating and unusual facts from the course said sophomore Sarah McSpadden of Gastonia, N.C. For example, DNA samples can be taken from the excrement of flies that have visited the corpse. “That’s amazing,” McSpadden said.Basic crime scene investigation, evidence collection and analysis and legal issues surrounding forensic science, are the components of the forensics course, according to Dr. Michael Wells, associate professor of chemistry. Wells and Drs. Tim Metz, Bruce Gay and John Bartlett developed the course in 2005 to satisfy a general science laboratory requirement for non-science majors and to provide a broader, better-rounded background for students going into criminal justice, law or other related professions.The course is divided into four modules—a Criminal Justice unit, taught by associate professor of Criminal Justice Dr. Bruce Gay and focusing on the legal issues surrounding the science; two units of biology, one taught by associate professor, Dr. John Bartlett, and devoted to the determination of mode and time of death through forensic entomology; a second unit taught by associate professor and chair of the Biology Department, Dr. Tim Metz, covering identification by hair, blood and DNA evidence; and a chemistry module, taught by Wells, which focuses on the collection and analysis of trace evidence such as glass, fiber, soil, poisons and drugs.”I like the way the course was set up with four different professors teaching in their own areas of expertise,” said McSpadden, who wants to go on to medical school. “In this way, we received a thorough introduction to all of the aspects of forensic science.”Wells, whose experience led to an invitation to present at a major science conference in March, said another course objective is to kindle an interest in science.”I would love for students who have never displayed any interest in science before to catch the ‘science bug,'” Wells said. “With television series like ‘CSI,’ lots of students seem to have an interest in forensics.”The course provides students with four hours’ credit for which they spend three hours in class and three hours in lab each week. The next Introductory to Forensics course will be offered in spring 2008.Photo Copy: Sophomore Sarah McSpadden, a biology/chemistry major from Gastonia, N.C., takes blood samples for analysis from the “crime house” used in Campbell University’s Introduction to Forensics course. (Photo by Shannon Ryals)

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