Over the last several months, the Columbus Police Department (CPD) has hosted a student from The Ohio State University who is majoring in biology with a minor in criminology. The student was placed with CPD through the CJRC’s undergraduate research internship program and experienced first-hand the work and research occurring in CPD’s Crime Lab. The student reported that "my time in the lab went very well and I learned a lot with respect to how a typical day goes as well as what channels evidence must go through." In terms of recommending the internship to other biology majors, he reported that this "would depend largely upon what the student's overall career goals and interests are. If they are more geared toward the traditional cellular or cancer biology, as I know most of my peers in the biology major are, I would say they would be better suited pursuing a traditional research position, however, if they voice a specific interest in forensic biology then the internship would be very productive. It was an excellent experience and opportunity.”

The student intern further reported that “another benefit [of the intern position] is that having this unique experience on my resume opened a lot of doors to laboratory related job positions.” Overall, the student noted that the intern experience with CPD helped solidify his career choice and he emphasized the critical role the internship played in his current employment success.