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Forensics Opens 2015 Duke Energy Summer Institute at Lander

Ansley Bain and Mary Grace Martin
Ansley Bain, left, and Mary Grace Martin, of Greenwood, take part in a forensics science exercise as part of the Duke Energy's Summer Institute at Lander University. Bain and Martin will be freshmen at Greenwood High School in the fall.

Fourteen budding criminologists learned about the fascinating world of forensics during the opening week of the 2015 Duke Energy's Summer Institute at Lander University. Classes opened on Monday, June 22, and featured the many scientific methods used by law enforcement to solve crimes.

Fingerprinting, DNA technology and blood splatter were among the many topics that were explored.

Lander Biology Professor Dr. Jennifer Maze said the course was designed to give the students a realistic overview of techniques for solving crimes. For example, she said they placed a pork shoulder in a wooded area overnight and, the next day, the students collected a variety of insect larvae from the meat and took turns examining and identifying samples under a microscope. Maze said the purpose of the exercise was to determine when the simulated crime had been committed by identifying the various insects and the stages of their development.

The summer program is sponsored by Duke Energy and taught by members of Lander science faculty with the assistance of science students. Other topics on the curriculum are physics, the magic of chemistry and mobile application programming using MIT App Inventor 2.