At the , we pride ourselves on introducing students in our youth programs to diverse career paths in healthcare, medicine, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). We feel it is a testament to our educational model when our students feel invested enough in the program to recommend topics to us. Recently, by popular demand, we hosted a session on forensic science for the sixth cohort of the .
For the uninitiated, forensic science is the application of science as it pertains to the law and encompasses such as forensic pathology, forensic anthropology, forensic psychology, odontology, entomology, and toxicology. Longtime readers will recall forensics in our youth programs. In 2016, students in the fourth cohort to teach the public about concepts in forensics.
Last month, we invited forensics expert to meet with our students and introduce them to fingerprinting. Moran is an associate teaching professor of forensics at Rutgers-Camden. Her areas of expertise include archaeology, forensic science, crime scene investigation, and fingerprint analysis. She is also the director of the , a project in conjunction with the Mütter Research Institute to identify, catalog, study and relocate discovered at the former site of the First Baptist Church.
During her session with the Karabots students, Moran introduced the kids to basic principles in fingerprint analysis. This involved examining the most common types of fingerprints and ways forensic investigators identify and analyze fingerprint evidence. The students also got the chance to put these ideas into practice by lifting and examining their own fingerprints.