Lawrence Kaplan (Williams College, USA)
Forensic science is an ideal field to introduce topics in the chemical, physical and biological sciences to undergraduate students. The Forensic Science workshop, offered under the auspices of the Chemistry Collaborations, Workshops and Communities of Scholars (the successor to the Center for Workshops in the Chemical Sciences) has been very successful in introducing college and university professors to the world of forensic science as a pedagogical vehicle. The workshop explores the forensic examination of physical, chemical, and biological items of evidence. The forensic analysis of glass, ink, bullets, fingerprints, and drugs introduces the concepts of basic, analytical, and organic chemistry. The analysis of alcohol and drugs and blood and other body fluids including DNA introduce the principles of biochemistry, toxicology, pharmacology, and serology.
cCWCS is sponsored by the NSF Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (TUES) program as a “Type 3” project.
