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By: Mitchell Holland, Daniel Sykes, Robert Shaler  
Issue: June/July 2006

The Penn State Model

Penn State’s undergraduate forensic science program combines a solid foundation in the sciences with practical, hands-on training, ushering in a new way to train forensic scientists for the future.

As we tackle the challenges ahead in the field of forensic science, education and training are going to play an increasingly vital role. Historically, professionals entering the field have had little or no training in forensics, and a large percentage have had a limited background in the sciences. As a result, training is typically agency-related and continuing education is workshop-based. While this is the best the profession has to offer, it provides insufficient depth. Fortunately that trend has been reversing in recent years, as more focus has been placed at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Moving forward will require stronger undergraduate programs that combine a solid foundation in the sciences with practical crime scene and laboratory experience, and will require students to have a firm understanding of the legal system. This article presents an overview of the new forensic science curriculum being offered at Penn State University. The program is unique and will be highly effective in producing graduates prepared to handle the challenges ahead.

What is a forensic scientist?
The word forensic can be defined as 1) the art or study of formal debate; argumentation, and 2) the use of science and technology to investigate and establish facts in criminal or civil courts of law. While forensic science may be a repetitive descriptor, there seems to be no clear definition of what a forensic scientist is or does in today’s world. According to the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Miami, and NY television series, a forensic scientist is a crime scene investigator, performs a variety of experiments in a crime laboratory, reconstructs the events of the crime, presents the case to the district attorney, testifies in court, and may even make an arrest or two. In reality, there are places in the country where crime laboratory personnel are part of crime scene investigation units, or where a cop or sheriff may be appointed the county coroner. However, individuals trained at the undergraduate level remain ill prepared to handle the demands of the “CSI investigator,” whether they actually perform all of their duties or not. All too often, individuals entering the field of forensic science have limited knowledge of how crime scenes are processed and crime scene events are reconstructed, and are not ready to interface with the legal community or present evidence in a court of law. Continuing this trend is unacceptable, as forensic science is the essential link between the crime scene, the forensic laboratory, and the legal system.

If we define forensic science as the area of a forensic investigation that involves the scientific analysis of evidence in a laboratory setting, we have described the primary role of a forensic scientist. In order to build a strong bridge between the crime scene, the laboratory, and the legal system, students must have extensive training in these aspects of the investigative process. Undergraduates learning to become forensic scientists need to understand the nature of evidence, how it can be collected and preserved at the crime scene, how it is processed in the laboratory, and how the results of their analyses are delivered to the legal system. Without this cross-disciplinary approach, the effectiveness of the curriculum is significantly lessened.

Although somewhat vocational in nature, building knowledge through practical training, especially in a hands-on profession, is clearly the best approach.

Vocational Approach to Forensic Science Education
Vocational programs generally involve short-term training that provides individuals with a narrowly focused skill set. For example, programs in automotive technology can be completed in less than a year, allowing someone to find work as an automotive mechanic. This may be a practical approach for professions such as this, but universities should be reluctant to develop forensic science programs using this model, and students should be equally reluctant to embrace such programs. Instead, a 4-year, science intensive program offering the appropriate blend of vocational training elements across all four years is preferred. ä

The goal of a typical undergraduate program in the sciences is to teach, train, and prepare students to enter their field of interest. While most programs do a good job of teaching their students the fundamental principles, they typically offer little practical training and career development. Instead, internships are substituted for practical experience. Unfortunately, worthwhile internship programs in forensic science are difficult to find, and given the limited resources of crime laboratories and the inability of interns to work on or handle forensic evidence, they are often of little value to the student. Therefore, responsibility for the forensic practicum lies in a balanced undergraduate program. Such programs should, 1) teach foundational scientific principles, 2) expand a student’s knowledge-base through focused, advanced coursework and laboratory classes, and 3) allow students to sharpen their skills through aggressive, hands-on instruction and practical experience.

Bachelor of Science in Forensic Science
The foundation of forensic science education lies with the basic sciences: mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology. The Bachelor of Science in Forensic Science (BSFS) program at Penn State resides in the Ebery College of Science (ECoS), where students can major in Premedicine, Microbiology, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, or a host of other scientific disciplines, including Forensic Science. Students who graduate with a BSFS have a myriad of opportunities they can pursue, including work in a crime laboratory or crime scene investigation unit, or as a chemist, biologist, biotechnologist, or biochemist in almost any other science-based laboratory. Additionally, students can elect to enter medical school, graduate school, or even law school. Using this approach, the BSFS program will produce science professionals as a first priority.

Students in the BSFS program culminate their mathematics training with two semesters of calculus with analytical geometry and one semester of biostatistics. At least two courses in physics ensure a strong background in mechanics, heat, sound, light, electricity, and magnetism. Chemistry is a foundational science, even for the biological sciences (biochemistry, for example). Students have two semesters of introductory chemistry including laboratories, and two upper level organic chemistry courses with a single laboratory. Rounding out their chemistry background, students take a quantitative analysis course that provides them with rigorous and comprehensive exposure to the techniques, methods, and quality control/assurance practices used in biotechnology, environmental, forensic, and pharmaceutical laboratories. In the biological sciences, courses in biodiversity and the biological aspects of molecules and cells lay the foundation, along with a course in bioethics. In the end, almost 50 credits of undergraduate courses (approximately 40% of the 124 credits required to graduate with the BSFS degree) guarantee a strong science foundation. While an aggressive approach, the fundamental principles taught in these introductory courses will ensure that students entering the forensic sciences are well prepared.

Following completion of the foundational courses, forensic science students select one of two options (chemistry or biology), but have the flexibility to take courses in a variety of ancillary topics. The biology option includes courses in genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, and laboratories in both protein and nucleic acid analysis. Students expand upon this by studying human genetics, molecular evolution, and physical biochemistry. The chemistry option involves courses in environmental, inorganic, transition metal, and physical chemistry, as well as toxicology. An instrumental analysis course allows students to build working quantitative instruments, preparing them to work with and clearly understand complex instrumentation such as gas chromatography linked to a mass spectrometer and capillary-based electrophoresis. Under either option, students can customize their curriculum with courses such as anthropology; crime, law and justice; entomology; management; philosophy; psychology; sexual assault nursing; and women’s studies.

Having a scientific foundation and well rounded set of electives is only a subset of the challenges of a strong undergraduate curriculum in forensic science. Aggressive and realistic hands-on training provide students with the critical skills they need, and give them an appreciation of the challenges they will face. The Penn State program is a unique training program that satisfies this goal.

Practical Hands-On Training

Spruce Cottage
In the late 1800s, a number of Victorian houses were erected on the campus of Penn State University. One of these houses was named Spruce Cottage. The 5500 square foot cottage was first occupied by George Gilbert Pond, the Dean of the College of Chemistry and Physics. The house was relocated in the 1930s, and currently sits near the new Chemistry and Life Sciences buildings. Over the past century, Spruce Cottage has been used for a variety of purposes, including faculty housing, the Rho chapter of Theta Phi Alpha sorority, police services, and most recently, the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing. What a fitting location for a crime scene investigation house. Late last summer, Spruce Cottage was renovated to create a technologically advanced, yet eerily realistic crime scene investigation training facility for the Penn State forensic science program.

The interior of Spruce Cottage has been renovated to provide walls with scrubable paint, tiled flooring with patterns that challenge a student’s ability to recognize evidence, and a system of cameras, speakers, and microphones that allow instructors to see, record, hear, and talk to students while they process mock crime scenes. The audio visual system was custom developed by a software firm in the local State College area, and provides fixed and 360 degree, rotating zoom cameras. The cameras give instructors a close up view of what students are working on, and since each room in the house has its own camera, instructors “move” from room-to-room and watch students working on different aspects of the crime scene.

A student’s first hands-on introduction to forensic science is an intensive crime scene investigation course, usually in their sophomore year, that runs the gamut of crime scene investigation including the role of the first officer and the investigator-in-charge, scene documentation, and the collection, preservation, and evaluation of various types of evidence (fingerprints, dust prints, impression evidence, bullet trajectory determination, blood spatter interpretation, trace evidence). Mock scenes are prepared from written scripts, acted out on camera by faculty and friends, and then physical evidence is planted according to the acted-out events. After the students process the scene and draw their own conclusions, they review what actually happened, which allows them to self-assess their work. In addition, students are digitally recorded while they process each scene and receive feedback on their performance.

Following training in crime scene investigation and the collection of evidence, students take the second in a series of three courses where they work in a laboratory designed to mimic a real crime laboratory.

Criminalistics Laboratory
Using evidence collected from mock crime scenes in Spruce Cottage, students in their junior year take Criminalists I, where they are trained in the methods used in a crime laboratory; for example, establishing and maintaining a chain-of-custody, securing evidence, performing searches on a variety of items for trace evidence and drugs, identifying biological material, and sending items (or portions of items) to specialty laboratories, such as DNA, comparison microscopy, chemistry, anthropology, and entomology for further analysis. Students learn the basic principles of these disciplines, and can expand this knowledge by taking more advanced courses in individual areas.

After students take the crime scene investigation and Criminalistics I courses, they take a capstone course, Crimi-nalistics II, in their senior year. Here, students process crime scenes, analyze the evidence in the laboratory, reconstruct crime scene events, prepare case materials for court, and testify to their findings in mock courtroom proceedings. In Criminalistics II, students will work in groups comprised of those individuals having different expertise based on the forensic sub-disciplines they have chosen; for example, forensic chemistry, biology, or anthropology. In turn, they will work to solve cases as a team. Through this systematic approach, students will be well prepared to begin a career in law enforcement, forensic science, or even the law.

Forensic Biology Laboratory
Forensic biology involves the screening of evidence for biological material, and the analysis of identified sources of human, plant, or animal DNA. Students in the Penn State BSFS program receive aggressive, hands-on training on a variety of screening, DNA extraction (including differential), and DNA quantification methods. In addition, they are trained in STR analysis, Y-STR analysis, and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequencing. The coursework is divided into lectures, readings, training demonstrations, analysis of training and population samples, and leads to a competency test in each technical area. Standard operating protocols are followed by the students, compelling them to document their findings through case-like notes and forms, and adhering to quality assurance, safety, and facility-related requirements.

Two courses are offered in forensic biology, and are taught in a laboratory that mimics an actual forensic laboratory. The first course focuses on screening methods, DNA extraction, quantification, and STR analysis. The second course deals with complex STR scenarios, and expands the student’s knowledge into Y-STR analysis and mtDNA sequencing. Mock casework samples are used as training tools (for example, sexual assault swabs, touch evidence, and hairs). The results of laboratory analyses are used to write court-ready reports and documents. In turn, students are introduced to the legal system and are asked to testify to their findings in mock courtroom proceedings. With the addition of education in areas such as quality assurance and control, safety, facility security, laboratory management, the laboratory auditing and accreditation systems, and a variety of other topics, students taking these courses will have received enough experience to be considered trained forensic biologists.

Forensic Chemistry Laboratory
Training in forensic chemistry encompasses a wide variety of areas to include fibers, paints, glass, and drug evidence. Consistent with the approach taken in the advanced forensic biology courses, students take two courses in forensic chemistry. In the first, students learn analytical and instrumental methods used in the analysis and characterization of trace evidence, drugs, and explosives. The techniques employed include optical microscopy, Raman and FTIR microscopy and spectroscopy, UV-VIS, capillary electrophoresis, HPLC, GC-MS, AA, ICP-MS, ESEM, among others. The second course expands on these areas and provides students with complex case-like scenarios to solve. Once again, students taking these courses will have received enough education and experience to be considered trained forensic chemists.

Talent Assessment and Leadership Development
Knowing your true talents and how you are wired as an individual is something that even active professionals struggle with. Supervisors typically praise good performance, but then turn around and ask an employee to focus on correcting his/her weaknesses. Many employees work hard to fit into a job that does not suit them. The sooner students identify their strengths, the sooner they can develop them and find career paths that are complementary. These principles hold true in the field of forensic science.

Resources exist to help people better understand their latent talents. Once known, individuals can work to strengthen these talents, while compensating for and addressing weaknesses. For example, a student might be a maximizer, possessing a talent for transforming an average group of workers into an outstanding one. Alternatively, a student might be more strategic, having the ability to sort through the obstacles to find the best path or see patterns where others see only complexity. Still another student might be someone who takes psychological ownership for anything they commit to, striving to be dependable and get the job done. Nonetheless, students generally have little knowledge of how they are wired as individuals, or what their true talents may be. The Penn State BSFS program uses resources to better understand a student’s innate talents, and uses this information to advise them in their career choices.

In addition to identifying strengths, the Penn State BSFS program is helping students to identify and refine their leadership talents or develop skills as they face the realities of entering the professional work force for the first time. For example, the crime scene investigation course taken in their second year is designed to promote these skills by placing students in a leadership role as a team leader responsible for managing a crime scene investigation. This concept is repeated as they progress through other courses involving teamwork and team dynamics.

Summary
The BSFS program at Penn State is designed to be as effective as possible in preparing students to enter the field of forensic science, understand the elements of forensics at both the crime scene and courtroom levels, and become future leaders of the forensic community. Our hope is that this approach will be a model for the development of programs at other colleges and universities, will further fortify the field of forensic science, and will improve the well being of our fellow citizens by strengthening the fight against crime.

Mitchell Holland is the Associate Director of the Forensic Science Program at Penn State, and is an Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. Before joining the faculty, he ran two forensic DNA laboratories between 1991 and 2005; the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory and The Bode Technology Group. Holland is best known for his work to develop and advance the use of mtDNA sequence analysis in the forensic community.

Dan Sykes has a long history of technology development for analysis in chemical and biological systems; his past work includes theoretical and spectroscopic investigations of sorption mechanisms of in/organic substances on mineral surfaces; and for the past five years, he has been charged with the responsibility of revitalizing the junior- and senior-level analytical and physical chemistry curriculum to include original research in the instructional laboratory environment.

Robert Shaler is the Director of the Forensic Science Program at Penn State, and is a Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. He was the Director of the Department of Forensic Biology at the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in New York City for 22 years prior to joining the faculty at Penn State. An accomplished author, he has published his WTC experiences in: Who They Were: Inside the World Trade Center DNA Story: The Unprecedented Effort to Identify the Missing.