About

Dr. Christine Picard, director of the Forensic & Investigative Sciences program at IUPUI, talks about the program and career opportunities in the field.

Description of the video:

So the forensic science program here at IUPUI is the only accredited program in the state. It goes through this rigorous process of review every five years, and there are certain standards that every program has to adhere to that ensures a strong scientific background for a forensic scientist. We want to make sure that the training that you get here as a student is going to actually translate into what you would actually be doing as a forensic scientist as a career, and so we spend a lot of time and effort making sure you get those experiences as part of this program. We have alumni that are at the FBI. We have alumni that are in many of the local labs. We have somebody who just started at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, so a recent graduate, and our students have been very successful in obtaining employment in part because of the curriculum we have here. The forensic science program is a professional program. When you leave our program, you are equipped to get a job in this field. Just being part of a research group is really valuable to be able to learn how other people think, how other people arrive at some of these questions that they get to, and how they design experiments in order to be able to answer those questions. The challenges are really good for you, and it will set you up for the future and prepare you for what real life looks like, right. Real life is not what’s in a lab manual where everything works out perfectly. Real life is where something may have gone wrong and you need to figure out what that was, and you need to be able to apply those critical thinking skills, and you can hone those doing research. The IUPUI community as a whole is built upon people coming together. We’ve made that abundantly clear and successful through this current pandemic. We have done a really good job of being able to continue our research through these trying times, and that’s a function of the resiliency of the students, and the resiliency of the faculty and the staff, and everyone that’s able to do all of this. I would ask you to consider IUPUI and to reach out to myself and or to anyone else that you are interested in hearing more. We might not be able to do an in-person visit because of some of the safety concerns, but rest assured, we are ready for you, and we are anxious for you.

Onlyaccredited forensics program in Indiana

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14%expected growth in career opportunities, 2018–28

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Why study at IUPUI?

Because we’re in downtown Indianapolis, we’re close to state and local crime labs, courts, state police, and other law enforcement agencies. You’ll be using the most modern, state-of-the-art instrumentation to learn how evidence is analyzed. You can perform cutting-edge research, do an internship at a real crime laboratory, and get credit for all of it. Come to IUPUI and be a part of one of the leading forensic science programs anywhere in the world.

What’s neat about forensics is that everything is tightly controlled and regimented—you have to be clean with it. Instead of finding whose DNA is this, you’re looking for spoilage organisms in your product.

Kevin Smolar, alumnus and quality control director for Sun King Brewery

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