One of the main features of the MSL program is Power Week, a whole week of compressed sessions that gives students the opportunity to take a diverse array of workshops and intensives that cover trending topics and specialized skills-building. Before break, students got to play detective during Dr. Jay Koehler’s Power Week class on Forensic Science. This was the first year that the MSL program offered it and the unique class received rave reviews from the MSL students.

The class was divided into 5 modules: Introduction to forensic science, admissibility of forensic evidence, problems in forensic science, meaning of a match, and the science of fingerprinting. The last module was particularly interesting because it featured guest speaker Dr. Shiquan Liu, from the Institute of Evidence Law and Forensic Science, China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing, China. Dr. Liu is one of China’s top forensic scientists and an expert on the science of fingerprints. He is also a Visiting Scholar at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, and is working on an empirical research project with Dr. Koehler on the accuracy of fingerprint conclusions. Following Dr. Liu’s fascinating presentation, every student received a complete set of tools to conduct a fingerprint analysis. Working in pairs, students created rolled and latent prints, and then successfully lifted those prints from drinking glasses onto tape and special fingerprint paper.  Students then analyzed the prints under personal microscopes. One student gave an impromptu analysis of his findings to the class. The students learned first-hand how difficult – and potentially powerful – fingerprint analyses and other types of forensic science evidence can be.