Marshall University forensic science graduate students and faculty will present a crime scene investigation workshop for high school students from Meigs High School in Pomeroy, Ohio and Buckeye Hills Career Center in Rio Grande, Ohio, from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14 at the crime scene house.
About 30 high school science students are expected to attend the CSI: Huntington workshop. They will participate in lectures, demonstrations and hands-on experiments in the areas of ballistics and firearms identification, tool mark examination, latent print development, handwriting analysis, blood pattern analysis, outdoor crime scene investigations and digital forensics. New to the workshop is the area of drug analysis.
Mack Kilkeary, a forensic science graduate student and event coordinator of CSI: Huntington, said the format of the workshop was revised this year to give students an opportunity to experience a greater hands-on approach to each station. “Students will solve a mock murder investigation while they learn and receive hands-on experience with some of the forensic techniques employed today,” he said.
Students will be given a mock case report on a murder that occurred inside the crime scene house. Eight stations will include a lecture and demonstration portion, as well as hands-on analysis of a critical piece of evidence that will contribute to the case. Kilkeary said students will use critical thinking skills to piece together the investigation and determine the suspect.
Previously, CSI: Huntington workshop stations included more lecture- and demonstration-based exercises.
The workshop will be presented by Master’s United Forensic Identification Association (MUFIA), a student organization composed of forensic science graduate students in the nationally recognized two-year program. Proceeds from the workshop will go towards travel expenses to offset graduate student costs to attend the national meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in Orlando, Fla., Feb. 16-21, 2015,or other forensic science conferences. Funds also may support travel for internship or job interviews. Forensic science graduate students will be assisting with the workshop.
CSI: Huntington workshops have been conducted previously as a summer camp for middle school students and as a series of evening sessions to adults and high school students.
Dr. Pam Staton, associate professor of forensic science in the graduate program, is the faculty advisor for the CSI: Huntington workshops. Teachers who are interested in scheduling a CSI: Huntington workshop for area middle-and high-school students may contact Staton for more information at 304-691-8962. Workshops also are available to other groups upon request.
The house is located at 1524 5th Ave. in Huntington.
