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These fibers don't match up but I'm sure we're going to figure it out with the help of a forensic scientist. Forensic scientist, Robin Gall, has had some interesting cases on her hands. We work on a lot of homicides, rape cases, hit and runs, and arson. Can you give us the definition of a forensic, of forensic science in general. Forensic science is actually just like any other type of science in this case in forensics we're usually studying evidence associated with a crime. You can specialize in different areas of forensics, but the primary responsibilities are all the same. Our primary responsibility of course would be the testing of evidence. After doing the actual testing the analysts next responsibility is to write a formal lab report as to their findings. This might seem like your typical crime scene TV show but in reality, the job is very different. A lot of these shows on television make it appear that one group of people complete the whole investigative process. In reality that's actually several different groups of people. Robin's job has her spending most of her time in a lab. I have gone out into the field when it's something highly unusual. But for the most part, our analysts stay in the laboratory. Before you can analyze the evidence, you'll need to get a bachelor's degree. Robin suggests finding a school with a good forensic science program. Those programs actually require that they spend time doing an internship in a crime laboratory, and that's the real way to get your foot in the door in this field. With law enforcement in every part of the country, you can find forensic labs everywhere. Anything from city up to federal law enforcement agencies and also there are some private laboratories. Due to the need to examine, solve, and prevent crimes, there's a definite need for forensic scientists. But the jobs are limited. So many people are interested in the field that there's a lot of students entering the programs. Unfortunately there aren't nearly as many jobs out there as you have students entering the field. What kind of starting salary can a forensic scientist dig up? An entry-level bachelor's degree forensic scientist would make around forty seven thousand dollars. But don't worry about the starting salary just yet. It helps to have specific characteristics to be a great forensic scientist. It would have to be someone who's very meticulous in their work because you have to be certain that none of the evidence gets cross contaminated, you have to be very good at documenting what you've done, taking good notes. Help you definitely a positive test. Hopefully we shed some light on forensic science. I'm Shana for YouniversityTV and I've got to go close this case. [ Music ]








