Forensic Lab
The Criminal Justice program offers a minor in criminalistics for those students desiring to specialize in this field. York College has its own forensic laboratory on campus and offers courses including Introduction to Criminalistics, Arson and Bomb Investigation, Death Investigation, Criminal Investigations, and Crime Scene Processing.
(Students who plan to pursue forensic laboratory careers are advised to double major in criminal justice and either biology, chemistry, physics, or forensic chemistry, or major in one of the sciences and minor in criminalistics.)
Institute for Applied Social Research
(http://groups.ycp.edu/cce/index.htm)
The Institute for Applied Social Research conducts applied research projects for community based non-profit and governmental organizations. Research projects are supervised by faculty members. The Director of the Institute for Applied Social Research is Dr. David Polk. Primary Research Associates are Dr. Gary Bittner, Dr. Kathy Brace, Dr. Amy Hosier, Dr. Mary Ligon, Dr. Steve Jacob, Dr. Laura Steck, and Dr. PJ Verrecchia. As appropriate, other faculty members become involved.
The purpose of the Institute continues to be to provide students with practical applied research experience and to offer the community quality applied research findings. Both quantitative and qualitative research can be performed. To date, research topics have been suggested by community organizations. Research projects are conducted by students as part of their classes and supervised by the faculty teaching the class. Projects typically last one or two semesters. The expense to the community organization is minimal. Usually, it is the cost of postage, stationery, and long distance calls. All labor is donated by the students and faculty.