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The American Academy of Forensic Sciences approached the university’s forensic science department about hosting, “and [the department] happily agreed,” said Katie Baustian, Administrative Assistant for the Forensic Sciences Certificate Program.

The forensic science certificate program has been at the university for 10 years, and steadily grew since being offered said Susan Myster, associate professor and director of forensic sciences.

Despite the glamorous nature of forensic scientists on television, Professor Myster is quick to draw the distinction between fiction and reality. Real forensic scientists do not carry weapons, help out in the investigation or kill anybody like on CSI, Myster said.

“When the certificate program was first offered at the university the television show Profiler was popular and of course we had a number of students who all wanted to be forensic profilers,” Myster said. Over the course of the class however, Myster noted that the ones who were not devoted to it tended not to continue with the program.

One of the panel discussions at the conference will be about the role of television in forensic sciences, Baustian said.

The mission of the conference is to, “work with students and educators on teaching the forensic sciences in middle school and high school,” Myster said. “Our co-sponsor [Court TV] has for years been dedicated to outreach within the forensic sciences.”

According to Basutian, possible lesson plans for educators will also be developed in very hands-on ways.

“Hopefully it gets students who are interested in the forensic sciences on the right track towards that career,” Baustian said.

At the time of printing, 22 persons were registered for the event, but Myster notes that, “it is still early.” In total, the number of people attending is expected to number approximately 100. Most of these are scholarship students who do not have to pay the admissions fees, making the conference open to more people, Myster said.

These 100 potential forensic scientists and their teachers come from as far away as Mississippi, California, New Mexico, Illinois and even Ontario.

“It is very gratifying and fun to hear what ideas or things some forensic scientists do at their job,” Myster said. According to Myster, many of the forensic scientists in Minnesota do not believe their job is just a job.

“The average forensic scientist’s sense of community goes beyond just the job,” Myster said. “Minnesota is nationally recognized for having such an active community of forensic scientists, many of whom come to speak here in their free time for no cost and take no honorarium.”

Myster credits the open sense of academia and the liberal nature of the state as a whole for the great interest other forensic scientists have in what each other are doing and their ability to discuss with each other without “circling the wagons.”

Baustian believes that the reason the forensic science community is so involved is because they have an “invested interest in the future of forensic science.” Part of this interest lies in keeping the standards of forensic sciences high.

An example of this sense of community is the Forensic Women’s Group which is active in the Twin Cities. Myster, an early member of the group, recalls that when she had first got a case in the early 1990s she relied on the help and support of this “mentoring group” of fellow group members in working the case. The Women’s group also benefits from the number of female forensic scientists in the metropolitan area. “In contrast to Tennessee where it is very male-oriented, the Cities have a large number of women in the field,” Myster said.

The conference is not restricted to forensic science majors however. Since much of the conference centers upon middle school and high school science education, the conference will be open to students pursuing a degree in science education at the university. Although not restricted to these fields, due to costs of registration it is not recommended that those not substantially interested in these fields apply.