By: Kim Vann

Imagine entering a crime scene and being the one responsible for noticing and collecting every trace of evidence. The pressure’s on: your analysis of the evidence must be scientifically sound to crack the case.

You’ve seen the hit television crime drama, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on CBS. The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago recently hosted the world premiere of CSI: The Experience, an immersive, interactive forensic science exhibit related to the TV show.

Two Kaplan University Criminal Justice faculty members, , lent their expertise to the experience. Bob gave a one hour lecture on bloodstain pattern analysis and explained how it is used to reconstruct crime scenes. Dena gave a half hour lecture on latent fingerprint examination, and also a hands-on demonstration on latent print development.

I believe it was worthwhile for people to interact with criminal justice professionals who have actually worked numerous crime scenes, and it also provided the chance to examine how much latitude Hollywood takes with the topic of crime scene investigations, said Bob, Academic Chair for the School of Criminal Justice.

A Learning Experience
In CSI: The Experience, guests played the role of crime scene investigator, learning scientific principles and real investigative techniques as they tried to solve one of three crime scene mysteries. Two state-of-the-art crime labs helped guests piece together the evidence. With input from investigators from the television show, along with their real-life forensic science counterparts, guests formulated a hypothesis, validated their findings based on scientific evidence and tried to crack the case.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) provided $2.4 million to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History to develop the exhibit for a national tour of science museums, as well as an online learning adventure.

The show CSI has inspired its millions of fans to become interested in forensic science, said Sandra Welch, NSF’s program officer for informal science education. Recognizing the role the show plays in society, we think this connection with the exhibit will help draw many people into a high quality science learning experience.

Bob Kopczynski, Chair for the School of Criminal Justice, lectures on bloodstain pattern analysis.