[1]Students are able to practice evidence collection techniques in on-campus Crime Scene Lab.
While you may have seen agents Abby and Gibbs navigate a crime scene on NCIS, there’s more to forensic science [2] than meets the TV fan’s eye. But that doesn’t mean it’s any less cool.
“I don’t want [students] getting a job and thinking, ‘I’m so disappointed, this is nothing like TV,’” says Mason forensic scientist Jocelyn Prendergast. “Forensic science is exciting in its own way—without the glamourized side of it.”
Mason’s program is so exciting, in fact, that bestselling mystery novelist David Baldacci has said he would like to sit in on a class as part of his research. As part of the program’s seminar series, Baldacci, who lives in Reston, Virginia, came and spoke with Mason’s forensic science students after he met program director Bill Whildin at a local book signing.
“Our seminar series is a special part of this program,” says Whildin, a retired Fairfax County police officer who worked for more than 10 years as a medico legal death investigator. Because of Mason’s proximity to Washington, D.C., he says, the program is able to bring in guest speakers from almost every federal agency. “It’s a great way for students to network and learn about the agencies, the job opportunities, and the credentials they would need to get in.”
Forensics deals with the science that is used as evidence in criminal law, and students can focus on a wide array of concentrations including fingerprint analysis, crime scene photography, or toxicology.
[3]Forensic science students have access to the most current equipment used in the field.
“One of the biggest misconceptions students have is that one person gets to do a little bit of everything,” says Prendergast, who worked as a research chemist at National Institute of Standards and Technology before coming to Mason. “Forensic science is actually very specialized. It takes years and years of training and mentorship in one specific field.”
But before students in Mason’s new undergraduate program choose their specialty, they are given a solid foundation of basics. One of the two entry-level courses, Survey of Forensic Science, is taught by a 20-year member of the FBI, Joseph Dizinno, and covers topics like DNA, evidence handling, and the law. Introduction to Criminalistics, taught by Prendergast, delves into subjects like crime scene investigation, firearms, blood spatter, and drugs of abuse.
Classes in the program are a blend of lecture and hands-on experience. For example, a class on forensic biotrace, which covers trace evidence like hairs, glass, soil, and fibers, will require analysis in one of the labs. Also, Prendergast will be teaching Forensic Chemistry and Microscopy in the fall, which will go more in depth into toxicology, drugs of abuse, and fire investigation.
Students are also taken on tours of off-campus facilities such as police crime labs, they are given the chance to practice at a forensic dig site (this year, they will be digging up the remains of a pig), and they also put their skills to the test by studying mock crime scenes.
[4]Program director Bill Whildin (right) with students.
Currently, the interdisciplinary forensic science program offers a master’s programs, a graduate certificate, and an undergraduate major and minor. Whildin says that the new undergraduate program is the perfect foundation for the prospective graduate students. And, he says, as agencies raised their accreditation standards, many now require a forensic science degree.
“We try to make our students as marketable as they can be,” says Whildin. “And close to 90 percent of students who enter the certificate program like it so much that they convert over into the master’s program. It’s a great compliment to the university and to our program.”