CBNA Forensics Students Remotely Access Electron Microscope

Students, from left Jacob Rich, Emma Tobbe, and Olivia Roach, looking at forensic samples on a conference call with Mrs. Nancy Cherim of the UNH Instrumentation Center.
Recently, Coe-Brown Northwood Academy Forensics students had the opportunity to remotely access a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) courtesy of the University of New Hampshire’s Instrumentation Center through the collaboration of science faculty member Mrs. Tiffany Thompson and Mrs. Nancy Cherim, an Analytical Instrumentation Scientist at UNH. Forensic students and science faculty members had the opportunity to submit forensic samples to be analyzed. Through a video conference call with Mrs. Cherim, students were able to examine and measure the size of many different samples such as dog hairs, human hair, and other plant and animal specimens. From this opportunity, students were able to experience what is like to be a forensic scientist in the real world and see the difficulty in matching hair evidence to a single person or animal.