Arizona State University's forensic program is seeing growth due to innovative, unique teaching methods
The Brief
ASU's forensics program is seeing steady growth as the program opens up its evidence locker on the Glendale campus to us for an inside look.
Assistant Professor Jacob Harris says the explosion of forensic-related TV shows and innovative teaching methods at the school have helped the program grow.
They are providing future crime solvers new, innovative, hands-on techniques for the real-world.
PHOENIX - Stepping inside Arizona State University's School of Interdisciplinary Forensics is like the set of a Crime Scene Investigation show.
This week, the school is opening the doors of its evidence locker at the Glendale campus to give the public an inside look.
Local perspective
Take a step inside Arizona State University's evidence locker and you'll see a real-life replica of the world of forensics.
"So forensics is essentially where science meets the law," said Jacob Harris, Assistant Professor at the ASU School of Interdisciplinary Forensics (SIF).
The SIF program at ASU gives students hands-on experience with forensics from DNA and fingerprint analysis, toxicology, bone-surface trauma and many other real-world scenarios.
"These are examples of sharp force trauma generated with a small six-inch, straight-edged metal knife," Harris demonstrates.
Analyzing the entry and exit wounds of a bullet going through a skull is another lesson.
What we know
"Forensic is a big word. It encompasses a lot of different topics. You could be working with animal remains, you could be working with human remains, you could be working with digital data, you could be working with living people," Harris said.
He adds that shows like C.S.I. and N.C.I.S have created a bigger draw to the program, and this week the public is invited to test it out.
"You could involve working with ballistics, psychology, bone surface modification, taxonomy, ethnography," Harris said.
He recreates crime scenes using test dummies and skeletons, the rest is up to the student.
Why you should care
"They have to catalog evidence. They have to find evidence. They have to produce probability maps to try to get an idea of where the most likely location is of those grave locations, then you tend to get things like little pieces of tooth, or you'll get coins, little bits of clothing, items that you might have missed when you're excavating," he said.
ASU's program is challenging the field of forensics, finding new innovative ways to solve crimes.
"These methods are based on data, they're based on statistics, and they're providing more robust techniques and methods that are less, I'll say, subject to analyst error."
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