Campbell to Offer CSI Type Forensics Course

Campbell University will offer a new course for non-science majors beginning fall 2005. Introduction to Forensic Science will cover some of the same scientific techniques used in the popular CSI television program such as DNA analysis, corpse analysis, blood-spatter analysis, and chemical trace analysis.
“The course does two things,” said Dr. Michael Wells, associate professor of chemistry. “It provides students with another option for meeting the natural science course requirement of the general college curriculum, and it gives students who may be going into criminal justice, law, or other related businesses a broader, more well-rounded background.”
The use of science and technology to solve crime will be the major thrust of the course, which focuses on crime scene analysis, evidence collection and analysis, and the legal issues surrounding forensic science. The course will also feature new technologies relating to chemistry, biology, and criminal justice.
In addition to other objectives, the criminal justice unit will teach fingerprint imaging techniques, making invisible fingerprints visible by fuming them with cyano-acrylate, dusting with a fluorescent powder, and photographing them under ultraviolet light. The biology unit will use DNA analysis technology to profile miniscule samples of skin, hair, saliva, or blood with a polymerase chain reaction or PCR technique which purifies and copies the DNA sample many times so that there will be enough to create a DNA fingerprint. And the chemistry unit of the course will explore the use of chromatography and spectroscopy to identify the components of crime scene evidence.
The course will be taught by a team of professors, including Wells, Dr. Tim Metz, chairman of the Department of Biological Sciences; Dr. Bruce Gay, director of Campbell’s Criminal Justice program; and Dr. John Bartlett, assistant professor of biological sciences.
Introduction to Forensic Science is the first step in the development of a series of courses toward the establishment of a forensics minor, Gay said.
“There is such a demand for courses with an emphasis on crime scene analysis by students who are planning to go into law enforcement either with local agencies, the SBI, or the FBI, the course will greatly benefit our program,” he said.
 

Bulletin 0032-2/11/05