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CSI - Big Rapids
Forensic Biology helps get "just the facts" even when there's no witness

A Forenic Biology student learns the real-life techniques of crime scene investigation.

   Two bodies sprawl across the kitchen floor, blood pooling beneath their heads. A small breeze enters through a window that is slightly ajar. Yellow crime tape flutters in the breeze. Is there a serial killer on the loose? Nope, it’s just one of the mock crime scenes students in the Forensic Biology program use to learn how to take specimens, handle and analyze the evidence, and determine when and how the crime was committed.
   “We leave the who-dun-it to somebody else because, as a scientist you’re not supposed to make those judgments—you just determine what the facts are,” says Professor Phillip Watson, Forensic Biology program coordinator.
   2003 was the first year the Forensic Biology track was offered as a major at Ferris State, making it one of only a few such bachelor’s degree programs in the country.
   The Criminal Justice department expressed interest in offering Forensic Biology courses six years ago as a minor in their curriculum, which was when such classes were first taught.
   “We had been thinking along the same lines so we looked into it at the American Academy of Forensics and the accrediting body to see if there was a need to teach Biology majors these skills,” says Watson. “We found out that there was virtually no one out there servicing this particular need. We also found that we had quite a lot of expertise locally to tackle this.”
   The Forensic Biology program is an applied biology degree with a forensic emphasis and a strong component of chemistry. Forensic classes range from DNA analysis to forensic pathology to entomology. Lab techniques are taught as well as crime scene investigation techniques.
   “Scene investigation is a very complex undertaking. You have to take all the information that you can find, all the evidence that you can find, promptly document it and properly care for it so that critical evidence is allowed in court,” says Watson.
   He stresses that those interested in working for CSI need not apply.
   “Every time someone sees CSI they wonder why their local police station can’t have all the stuff that the CSI lab has. But Hollywood is Hollywood. If every town had what they have there would be no crime,” says Watson. He points out also that real crime scene investigation isn’t as easy as it looks on TV. “At many crime scenes you could be searching for, collecting and processing evidence for 12 or 14 straight hours, and real investigators are always working on more than one case at a time.”
   But, for those who aren’t afraid of hard work or a little blood, this program is the real thing. Students are taught a wide variety of skills and techniques in their courses. “Students learn how to identify plant, insect and DNA evidence. They learn how to collect it, analyze it and evaluate its value to the investigation,” says Watson.
   In Dr. Jack Buss’ Forensic Pathology class, students learn about the effects of trauma and death on the body. They also learn how to determine what kind of weapon causes a particular wound and how to identify what happened based on the evidence left on the body or the bones.
   Watson details some of the problems that students tackle in another course offered to students in the Forensic Biology program. “It’s simple to collect a DNA sample from a living person, but how do you collect it if you have only bones, or if you don’t have very much left of a person at all? How do you get DNA samples from concrete or from a car, or wherever that DNA is left? And, can you use that DNA once you take it from, say, a bone.”
   Even though few people can work at a place like CSI in the real world, there are many employment opportunities for graduates of Forensic Biology.
   “People with this degree have a lot of opportunities. There are opportunities at the local, county, state or federal level, as well as increasing opportunities in the industry sector,” says Watson.

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