Environmental Toxicology
Forensic Science
Undergraduate Minor in Forensic Sciences
Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of any science to matters of the law. During criminal investigations, many evidence items are recovered from the crime scene to understand the who, what, where, when, and why of what happened. Forensic science is a broad field and can include fingerprints, blood stain patterns, hair and fibers, entomology, taphonomy (the study of decomposition and decay processes), or even drug chemistry.
Students will work cooperatively to work through virtual crime scenes and practical laboratory scenarios together and arrive at possible hypotheses as to what happened. This will expose the student to various evidence items in a routine crime scene scenario, while understanding the process of evidence collection and association/comparison processes.
The field site component will expose the student to a natural environment where different variables play a role in the decay of an animal carcass. The field site is strictly observational and will allow to students to collect variables such as temperature, humidity etc. on site to formulate possible hypotheses.
Contact and Advising Information
If interested in applying for the forensic science minor, please complete the form below and send an email to Samantha Luna with your full name, email contact information, and R#.
She will then return a signed and approved minor degree plan to you for submission to undergraduate advising services. Please allow between 1-2 weeks for processing.
• Download - Forensic Sciences Minor Degree Plan Form
ALL advising for the minor will take place via email/phone. There will be NO in-person office hours until further notice. Please check back here for updates when in-person advising will resume.
Samantha Luna, Academic Program Coordinator
We are partners with the
TRUE Scholars Program:
ABOUT THE MINOR
The goal of this interdisciplinary minor is to offer students the opportunity to take courses pertinent to
scientific and methodological issues associated with crime investigation and criminal behavior.
The following requirements must be met in order to complete a Forensic Sciences minor:
- The student must complete at least 18 hours in designated forensic-related courses.
- No more than 12 hours may be taken in one department program.
- Courses may be used simultaneously for major and minor (double-dip), however, may NOT be simultaneously used for minor to minor programs.
- At least 6 hours of upper-division courses must be taken at Texas Tech.
- Courses with a grade of D cannot be counted toward fulfillment of the minor.
- All students enrolled in the forensic sciences minor are required to enroll in the forensic science course
FSCI 2308 (Forensic Sciences) and FSCI 4355 (Forensic Trace Analysis)
KEEP IN MIND…
Certain courses require that prerequisites be taken before the student can enroll in the desired course.
Prerequisite courses (except ANTH 3303) do not count toward the minor.
All degree plans related to the minor must be approved by the minor director, Dr. Prada-Tiedemann.
Required Courses:
• FSCI 2308 Forensic Sciences, 3 semester credit hours
• FSCI 4355 Forensic Trace Evidence, 3 semester credit
hours
• 12 additional credits from the following options:
- ANTH 3303 - Forensic Anthropology, 3 Semester Credit Hours
- ANTH 4343 - Human Skeletal Biology and Forensic Techniques, 3 Semester Credit Hours
- BIOL 3416 - Genetics, 4 Semester Credit Hours
- CRIM 2335 - Homicide, 3 Semester Credit Hours
- CRIM 4325 - Criminological Theory, 3 Semester Credit Hours
- ENTX 4325 - Principles of Toxicology I, 3 Semester Credit Hours
- ENTX 4326 - Principles of Toxicology II, 3 Semester Credit Hours
- FSCI 4300 - Individual Studies in Forensic Science, 3 Semester Credit Hours
- PSY 4384 - Forensic Psychology, 3 Semester Credit Hours
- SOC 3327 - Sociology of Law and Policing, 3 Semester Credit Hours
- SOC 4335 - Victims of Crime, 3 Semester Credit Hours