LIsa Black
Cape Coral, FL
Female, 49
I spent the five happiest years of my life in a morgue. As a forensic scientist in the Cleveland coroner’s office I analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. Now I'm a certified latent print examiner and CSI for a police department in Florida. I also write a series of forensic suspense novels, turning the day job into fiction. My books have been translated into six languages.
That's an excellent question that unfortunately I can't answer. One probably would use it, but back when I did hairs and fibers it was generally thought that the only way was to extract the dye and do thin-layer chromatography, which we didn't have. We also didn't have a Ramen, so all I could do was microscopic comparison.
Best of luck!
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What is your favorite part of this job?All the interesting, different, bizarre stories that make up the crimes that have happened that we have to investigate.
What is you least favorite part of the job?Being 'on call' and knowing you can be interrupted at any moment of the day and have to go to a crime scene, even if it's the middle of the night or a holiday. I've also had to change vacations because I have to testify in a trial. I hate that.
Being around the dead is something you either get used to really quickly or you don't. The dead will not bother you, but the living can drive you crazy! And stress depends where you work. I have a great office and a relatively low-crime area, so unless we have a lot all happen at once, which is not too often, it's really not that stressful. If I lived in a more hectic place with too many demands and not enough time or resources, it might be a different story.
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I honestly have no idea, I never did a grad program. Are there any advisors at your target schools that you can ask? But I sympathize—I had the same problem with Organic Chemistry. I got A’s in General Chemistry, but I just never ‘got’ Organic. Best of luck to you!
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Usually I'm annoyed most often by people asking for things to be done immediately while ignoring a) that we are working on more cases than just theirs, b) that some processes take time, and/or c) that what their asking for isn't going to prove anything for them anyway.
As for fellow scientists, the worst offenses are a) finding typos in my reports and b) taking the last piece of cheesecake out of the communal fridge.
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Which cable company do you think has the absolute worst customer service?
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Are mechanics more likely to take advantage of female customers than males?
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Some people don't have enough to do!
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Usually simple black powder will show gloveprints as well as fingerprints. The bubbly sort of pattern they make will be visible.
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Any agency can use whatever requirements they want, so some (like mine) require only a high school diploma (but give extra points for advanced degrees, so we all have degrees). Some might require a Bachelor’s in any subject but give more points for forensic training—or not. The only way to know is check their job postings. Best of luck!
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