[Main] [Newsletter] [Resources] [Calendar] [Mentor Program] [Officers & Steering Committee] [Contact]
[Membership] [Education]

American Academy of Forensic SciencesYoung Forensic Scientists Forum

Young Forensic Scientists Forum Newsletter - November 2003

Forensic Science at the University of Toronto at Mississauga
If you are attending the University of Toronto at Mississauga (UTM), chances are good that you are there for the Forensic Science program. Chances are also good that your new roommate, friend, acquaintance, and countless other new students around you are all there for the same reason! It seems that every year, Frosh week at UTM is buzzing with first year students clamoring for a spot in the competitive program.

Poised to graduate its eighth class of forensics students this year, the Forensic Science program at UTM continues to expand since its conception over a decade ago. Pioneers of the program include Ulrich J. Krull, Professor of Analytical Chemistry, Jerry Melbye, Professor Emeriti of Anthropology, and Raymond Cummins, Professor of Botany and Director of the Forensic Science program. The program was launched in collaboration between UTM, the Office of the Chief Coroner and the Centre of Forensic Sciences (CFS) thanks to the blessing of Doug Lucas, then Director of the CFS. The philosophy of the program was then, and remains today, is to provide students with a Science Degree that will permit them to go on to attend graduate or professional schools, pursue medicine or law, or enter the work force, perhaps as police officers or laboratory technicians.

Students can choose to pursue the program through a double major of Forensic Science coupled with Anthropology, Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, or Computer Science. New this year are the forensic specialties available in Biology, Chemistry, and Psychology. No matter which one you choose, the core courses of the forensic program will have you braving the dead rat compound to study rates of decomposition and insect colonization in Dr. David Gibo's Forensic Entomology class. Or, you could be examining every bone marking in UTM's human bone collection for Dr. Jerry Melbye's Osteology class. New classes now being offered include Forensic Identification, Forensic Investigation, DNA Evidence in Forensic Science, Forensic Toxicology, and Forensic Pathology.

Students are taught by forensic experts active in their fields who continue to work, research, and publish. Adjunct Professor of Forensic Pathology at UTM, Dr. Michael Pollanen, has published a number of scientific papers, authored one book, and recently served as Primary Medical Examiner for the United Nations in East Timor where he performed post-mortem examinations on exhumed bodies. Assistant Professor of Anthropology at UTM, Dr. Tracy Rogers, has testified as an expert witness in court cases, and is involved with the ongoing RCMP investigation in Port Coquitlam, B.C., that has anthropologists sifting through the dirt of the 14-acre farmland in search of remains.

The program culminates in a fourth-year mentorship course where students are placed with a forensic expert in their field of interest. Students can spend one day per week for the duration of the eight-month academic period with their mentors, or can opt to spend five days per week at their placement over the summer months. The CFS, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Office of the Chief Coroner, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and Police Services from the Halton, York, and Peel Regions can be counted among the many agencies that generously donate their time to mentoring UTM's forensics students. 

A paper and oral presentation before mentors and peers on the annual Forensic Science Day in April allows students the opportunity to share their research and experiences. Some students have had their papers published in forensic journals.

Forensics students are also encouraged to join the IVNVI (Forensic) Society at UTM. This club hosts many special events including murder mysteries and movie nights, as well as organizing trips to the CFS, Office of the Chief Coroner, and Coroner's Inquests. The IVNVI Society provides members with access to handy reference materials (including old tests), facilitates book exchanges, and promotes increased student attendance at Canadian and International Forensic Conferences and events.

Whether you plan to continue on in Forensic Science, or to further your education in other fields, the Bachelor of Science Degree at UTM will provide you with the background to do so. If you have an interest in Science, its application to Justice and the Law, or if you just can't get enough of that C.S.I., then maybe you should consider a UTM Forensics Degree. Please visit the UTM Forensic Science website at http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/~w3fsc/ where you will find information about admission into the program, and feel free to peruse the IVNVI Society website at http://home.utm.utoronto.ca/~ecivnvi/ to whet your appetite! 

 

Copyright © 2003 Young Forensic Scientists Forum / American Academy of Forensic Sciences