Scientific Forensic Technology

A team of lawyers and industrial engineers pore over the hard data in a board room. To the experts, the case is clear: the wrong hardness of steel was used to make a cotter pin. The pin held in place a larger rod, which in turn maintained tension on a pivoting hinge which kept a specific brand of horse trailer properly attached to the vehicle towing it. So when the cotter pin failed, trailers came loose on the road, endangering people and animals, and in one case, running an empty horse trailer through the front lobby of a glue factory.

Well, it wasn't funny at the time. The problem the lawyers face is clear: How to help a jury understand exactly what went wrong, mechanically, without confusing or boring them? What are they going to do, pass around a cotter pin? Wheel in an old chalk board? Drag in some guy in a lab coat to lecture for hours about tensile strengths and fracture points?

Not a chance. They've got you on retainer—a very expensive retainer. And thanks to your degree in Scientific Forensic Technology, your job is to create a computer animation showing the jury the exact sequence of events. When the jury is able to see your finished video showing the critical failure that an otherwise uninteresting little piece of metal contributed to the crash, you can rest assured that they will all agree with the engineers.

And the defense attorneys will have also learned an important lesson, too: Next time, they're hiring you.

Possible Job Titles:

Criminalist, Crime Scene Investigator, Accident Reconstructionist, Forensic Chemist, Document Examiner, Firearms Technician, Firearms/Toolmark Examiner Forensic Chemist, Forensic Photographic Specialist, Forensic Quality Assurance Coordinator, Forensic Scientist, Trace Evidence Examiner

Average Salary:

$35,000–50,000/yr

Job Outlook:

There is a significant demand for program graduates for law firms (both civil and criminal), police criminal investigation units, businesses such as large insurance companies, and a variety of government agencies.

More information:

Contact admissions@dsu.edu, 1-888-DSU-9988, or artsandsciences@dsu.edu, 1-605-256-2570.

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Catalog Description

The Scientific Forensic Technology major is designed to provide the skills and knowledge necessary to use computers and other kinds of modern technology to investigate, document, and visualize (especially with 3D modeling and animation) events that cause injury to humans or cause damage to property. The program is a composite major. It is, by design, a multidisciplinary approach to a focused area of forensic science, combining study in mathematics, chemistry, physics, computer graphics, and technical communication.

Professionals working in forensics have indicated that the major is consistent with and frequently goes beyond current national forensic standards and practices. Graduates will be well qualified for many positions with law firms (both civil and criminal), police criminal investigation units, businesses such as large insurance companies, and a variety of government agencies.

System General Education Requirement 30*
Institutional Graduation Requirement 11