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Learning Environments

forensic science students in a lab at UOIT

The Forensic Science program’s research and academic studies are supported by the Faculty of Science's sophisticated and leading edge facilities, including:

  • Crime Scene House
    uoit's crime scene houseCrime Scene House, a unique facility where students receive training to be Scene-of-Crime Officers and Forensic Scientists in crime-scene management and investigation. Students receive hands-on training in the practical skills required by forensic investigators, including:
    • Collecting trace materials, impression patterns and biological fluid evidence
    • Proper documentation and sketching of a variety of crime-scene scenarios
    • Vehicle accident reconstruction
    • Clandestine grave identification and excavation techniques
    • Decomposition experiments
    • Recovery of entomological and botanical evidence
    • Our Crime Scene House also includes a vehicular investigation area for hit-and-run simulations, as well as an outdoor taphonomy space for the archaeological recovery of buried remains 
  • Forensic Ecology Research Facility
    Forensic Ecology Research Facility, dedicated to conducting vertebrate decomposition experiments in an outdoor environment. The facility is located on university land and allows students to conduct experimentation using analogues for human decomposition. Students investigate the effect of environmental parameters (e.g. temperature, moisture, soil and vegetation type) and other taphonomic agents (e.g. insect and scavenging activity) on the decomposition process.
  • Forensic Teaching Laboratory
    Forensic Teaching Laboratory, used for the scientific analysis of evidence in a chemistry, criminalistics or biological context. Students develop strong practical experience with:
    • microscopy techniques (digital, compound, stereo, comparison and polar microscopes)
    • forensic biology instrumentation:
      • automated genetic analyzer
      • real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
      • thermal cycler
    • forensic chemistry instrumentation:
      • 1,8-Diazafluoren-9-one [DFO] chamber
      • analytical balances
      • cyanoacrylate fuming chamber
      • glass refractive index measurement [GRIM] system)
    • miscellaneous forensic equipment such as:
      • digital photography equipment
      • electrostatic detection apparatus
      • faunal and human osteological specimens
      • forensic light sources
      • video spectral comparators