UMD CCJS Undergraduate Students compete at the Intercollegiate CSI Challenge – where students fight the clock to solve a crime
(L to R) CSI Terp #2- Patrick Hannigan, Andres Hernandez, Kaitlyn Asbury; Professor Tom Mauriello; and CSI Terp #1 – Emily Toth, Bailey Jean Pendergast, and Nathan
Emmitsburg, Maryland – Mount St. Mary’s University’s CSI Challenge — an intercollegiate competition where students demonstrate their skills in crime scene evidence collection and preservation, case preparation, and investigative presentation took place Saturday, March 19, 2016. At the Mount St. Mary’s University campus.
The competition, established to encourage educational pursuits in the career fields of forensic science and criminal investigation offers students the opportunity for real-world experience supplied by a mock-crime scene, coupled with the stress of competition and time constraints. The Challenge’s objective is to demonstrate professional proficiency and scientific expertise required of persons engaged in crime scene evidence recovery and laboratory examination. The teams were judged by our own Professor Tom Mauriello, faculty from the University of Guelph-Humber, Ontario, Canada, criminal investigators from the Frederick City Police Department, and members of the Forensic Sciences Unit from the Pennsylvania State Police.
Our two teams were comprised of 6 CCJS undergraduate students selected to compete after successfully completing Professor Mauriello’s CCJS 320 – Introduction to Criminalistics course and a CCJS 399 – Independent Study course focused on the crime scene investigation process.
There were 30 three-person teams who competed during the weekend event and our CCJS teams made us proud by finishing in 2nd and 3rd place.
