Emerging Leaders in STEM at Bloomfield College
Alicia Cook alicia_cook@bloomfield.edu
On June 27, Bloomfield College kicked off its third annual Emerging Leaders in STEM Summer Forensic Science Program. The College greeted 15 students from both Newark's Eagle Academy and Newark Collegiate Academy.
The students, ranging from incoming high school freshmen to rising seniors, were exposed to college level STEM concepts and worked one-on-one with Bloomfield College faculty and student researchers.
The four-day program was free of charge and welcomed students who displayed an interest in a STEM discipline.
On the first two days of the workshop, students performed forensic entomology with Dr. Murphy, Chair of the Division of Natural Science and Mathematics and Professor of Biology, and DNA finger printing with Dr. Castro, Associate Professor of Biology. The distinguished professors at the College made the lessons interesting by having the students investigate a fictitious, chilling cold case murder. By day three, students were partaking in forensic blood typing with Dr. Koepp, Professor of Biology, and closed out the day with a career development workshop.
The final day was a field trip to Liberty Science Center in Jersey City where students engaged in blood spatter analysis.
Last year, all students who participated rated the program highly and said they would most definitely recommend the program to fellow students. All signs point to this year’s program being held in the same high regard.
“The program was a huge success,” said Christopher Langner who oversaw the program with Carolyn Spies, Associate VP for Academic Affairs at Bloomfield College. “The students did very well synthesizing the material. Creating a hands-on experience was key. With the support of our amazing STEM faculty, we are hoping to continue the program in 2017.”
The Emerging Leaders in STEM Summer Forensic Program was partially funded by the Predominantly Black Institutions Competitive Grant Program and the Newark City of Learning Collaborative.
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