Over the years, we have had the opportunity to offer a lot of fantastic and diverse course offerings as electives to our students. The Summer I Semester in particular is usually jam-packed with a lot of interesting options, and the summer of 2015 was no different!
Forensic Science, taught by adjunct professor Deloria Ballard-Hubbell, was a huge hit with the students. In Forensic Science, students practiced a variety of skills, including: making observations, analyzing facts, identifying patterns, and drawing conclusions in a quest to solve a simulated crime scenario. During each class session, students engaged in lab experiments which required them to closely examine evidence and data.
The topics covered in Forensic Science were incredibly sophisticated; as the Academic Coordinator for CEP, I had the opportunity to observe and engage the students in one of Deloria’s lessons, and I was surprised by how much I learned myself in the process! Our students definitely taught me a thing or two – they blew my mind when discussing how an electrostatic dust lifting process can be used to collect fingerprints from a crime scene – I was so impressed by their knowledge of the topic!
Some of the topics explored in the class included:
- Fingerprinting basics
- Tire and shoe tread imprints
- Forensic entomology (looking at insect life cycles to determine time of death)
- Forensic anthropology (study of human bones)
- Fiber identification
- Physical and chemical properties of unknown substances
- Chromatography
- Handwriting Analysis
- Blood Evidence

