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By STEVE LEVINE
Courier-Post Staff
GLOUCESTER TWP.
Crossing Jordan. Crime Scene Investigation. Quincy, M.D.
As most any TV fan can tell you, forensic science makes good television. It's Sherlock Holmes meets Jonas Salk. The love child of Columbo and Marcus Welby, M.D.
Beginning this semester, students at Camden County College in Blackwood can do more than watch forensic scientists on television. They can become one.
A new forensics course offered through the chemistry department will not only expose students to the science of solving crimes but enable them to pursue a career in the field.
"This course will involve such things as hair, fiber, protein and DNA analysis," explained associate professor of chemistry William Lavellcq.
The course was designed to appeal to liberal arts students who are required to have at least one science course to graduate.
Lavell said the class is the first step in plans for a forensic science certificate program which could be offered soon.
But it's also part of a drive to provide deeper, richer scientific studies at the two-year college, explained chemistry department chairwoman Teresa Smith.
The school has a new a bio-technology lab and, starting this semester, offers an associates degree in bio- technology for which five students are enrolled.
Smith said a two-year degree in bio-technology can prepare students for a robust job market or continued college studies. She said students graduating with such degrees can earn as much as $35,000 their first year.
"You could get a job in a local pharmaceutical company working on new drugs. You could also get a job in a forensics lab," she said.
Smith said she and others from the college consulted with about 50 scientific firms around the region before launching the new program and were convinced graduates would have jobs to apply for.
"New Jersey is the fourth leading bio-technology state in the country," Smith said.
Further, she said, Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia has agreed to accept all of Camden County College's bio-technology credits for students seeking bachelor's and advanced scientific degrees.
To complement its new programs, Camden County College also has a wide array of lab equipment that one might not expect to find on a junior campus.
Among the new equipment is a "nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer" for identifying organic compounds in experiments and a "fast protein liquid chromatograph" for high-speed separation of proteins.
Smith said the college purchased the chromatograph new for about $30,000 while the spectrometer, which would cost about $300,000, was donated by Villanova University.
"What makes our program different is we're training our students on state-of-the-art equipment," Smith said. "It's not just theory."
Reach Steve Levine at (856) 845-6520 or slevine@courierpostonline.com