Although Iowa State does not offer a major in forensic science, there are many opportunities for buffs of the show “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” to hone their forensic detective skills, say ISU professors.

Patricia Thiel, distinguished professor of chemistry, said via e-mail that more students are interested in studying forensics because of television programs like “CSI” and “Monk,” which highlight the role of forensic science in solving crimes.

Without creating a new undergraduate major, Iowa State’s chemistry department is focusing on opportunities for students to study forensics, she said.

Graduate chemistry students can choose an area of specialization in forensic chemistry, she said. The specialization, similar to a minor, was created in fall 2002, said Renee Harris, program coordinator in chemistry.

The decision not to offer an undergraduate forensics major was based on needs expressed by the forensics community, Thiel said. “Criminalistics lab directors typically tell us that they do not want to hire people trained in forensic science,” Thiel said. Labs train new employees in their lab’s procedures and would end up re-training those with forensics degrees, she said.

However, students interested in forensics should prepare by having a solid background in a traditional field, such as chemistry, statistics, zoology or genetics, she said.

“While the interest among students is extremely high, the job market is also extremely soft,” Thiel said. Those trained in traditional science fields will have more flexibility with their job prospects, she said.

Chemistry students who hope to work in forensics can extend their training beyond chemistry by choosing the graduate specialization, Thiel said.

The graduate forensic science specialization program has a seminar speaker coming in April. The program will also offer internships with criminalistics laboratories in the upper Midwest once funding becomes available, Thiel said. In addition, there are research opportunities on campus.

Todd Zdorkowski, associate director of the Midwest Forensics Resource Center, said student assistants are currently helping Dr. Stanley Bajic, associate scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, with a Federal Bureau of Investigation research project investigating marks on tools. A tool marks examiner could link a tool, and an individual, to a crime, Zdorkowski said.

“There’s a remarkable forensics science and research community on campus,” Zdorkowski said.

He said forensics has between eight and 15 disciplines, ranging from trace evidence to toxicology to impression evidence. Forensics research is conducted by faculty in departments as diverse as statistics, psychology, zoology and genetics.

The examination of wildlife crime is another area where forensics can be explored by students at Iowa State.

In the zoology and genetics department, Fred Janzen, associate professor of zoology and genetics, has developed a genetic database on turtles. The database can be used to determine whether turtle meat is being illegally imported from an endangered population, Thiel said.

“There is a reasonably large amount of wildlife crime,” Zdorkowski said. “One of the few ways you can address it is by seeking wildlife forensics research.”

The Midwest Forensics Resource Center is driven by the needs expressed by crime laboratories in nine upper Midwest states, Zdorkowski said. The four tasks the center has focused on are providing training for forensics professionals, educating students, connecting resources to solve unusual casework and funding research projects.

“The existence of their center is the primary reason why ISU is in such a great position to pursue forensic science research and why we are so well-educated about the employment needs within the forensics community,” Thiel said.

Thiel said techniques used in labs are “typically commercial, high-throughput techniques, and are not at the cutting edge of research. Criminalistics labs are typically far under-funded and far under-staffed. Salaries are low.

“Programs like CSI are quite misleading about forensic science,” she said.