CSI Bates

In the woods near Merrill Gym, Short Term students in “Forensic Science,” taught by Stephanie Richards ’84, a visiting biology professor, search for a mock gravesite. From left are Jennifer Diefendorf ’11, Christopher Ray ’10, teaching assistant Marshall Karpell ’08, Leigh Krueger ’10 (behind tree), and Kelsey Omstead ’08. “They’re looking for changes in the soil texture and color on the ground,” says Richards, who planted plastic human skeletons last fall for the course. “Marshall is explaining differences in the types of plants they might see if the ground had been disturbed.”

Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen.