Keystone College faculty members stay busy beyond the classroom, often engaging in hands-on learning opportunities and serving as experts in their fields. Forensic biology instructor Jillian Fesolovich recently served as a forensic expert for the National Geographic television program, Explorer. Over the course of two days on location in Gettysburg, Pa., Jillian was involved in the search and recovery of DNA remains to help identify victims in a staged mass disaster exercise for the Strange Forensics episode.
As part of the exercise, bomb making experts with Tripwire Operations Group built a bomb and placed it on a school bus loaded with cadaver animals (goats, deer, pigs), dressed in human clothes with other personal items. Once the bomb was detonated, Jillian was part of the team that searched for victims, tissue, body fragments, and personal effects, and also swabbed a fragment of the bomb for skin cells left behind by the bomb maker. The exercise highlighted rapid DNA technology and the important role of forensic scientists as they investigate mass disasters.
