Ohio State University is seeing a huge increase in student enrollment for its forensic anthropology program. The program began with five students in 2023 and now has 100 students.
WOSU’s Debbie Holmes spoke with Nicholas Passalacqua, associate professor of anthropology and director of Ohio State's forensic anthropology lab, about the booming interest in the program that helps identify human remains.
Debbie Holmes: Give us a summary of what forensic anthropology is.
Nicholas Passalacqua: Anthropology is the study of humanity and forensic anthropology is kind of the application of our understanding of humanity to solving medical legal questions. So, a forensic anthropologist is an expert in the human skeleton, as well as forensic archeology, which is the search and recovery of human skeletal remains. So, forensic anthropologists are routinely called in to assist law enforcement or coroner's offices or medical examiner offices with the search for human remains or once you find human remains, figuring out who that person was and how they died.
Debbie Holmes: And I know I watch a lot of true crime shows. Why do you think more students are interested in studying this?
Nicholas Passalacqua: You know, part of it, I think, is just there aren't a ton of forensic anthropologists, and there aren't a ton of forensic anthropology programs. And so the fact that Ohio State University recently started a major in forensic anthropology is really reflecting people's interests and people's desires to learn more about forensic anthropology and death investigation overall, and just kind of filling a need that wasn't, you know, there was no program before, so there really wasn't a place for people around this area to go to study and learn about forensic anthropology and the human skeleton.
Debbie Holmes: Let's talk about bones and how you use them in the classroom.
Nicholas Passalacqua: There's a lot of things that we can learn about a person from their skeleton. Like we can estimate their biological sex. We can estimate how old they were when they died. We can estimate how tall they were. We can get an estimate of where that person's ancestry is more likely to be from. And we really try to take a hands-on approach in the classroom by using real human skeletons that were donated to science to teach people how we can learn different things about a person from their skeletal remains and then apply that within a death investigation context or we're trying to figure out who that person was and how to get them back to their family.
Debbie Holmes: You created the Forensic Anthropology Services and Training, or FAST, program and you and your students use it in part to help outside agencies in identifying human remains. Tell us about how and when you've used FAST.
Nicholas Passalacqua: So FAST is kind of like, kind of represents our consulting arm. So, you know, as a forensic anthropologist, I really kind of think about it as like a service based discipline, like a humanitarian discipline that's trying to provide services to the local community. And so, with FAST, we have the ability to consult with law enforcement and then coroner and medical examiner's offices whenever they might need our services. So, any time law enforcement or coroner or medical examiner’s offices reach out, we try to be there for them to help them with whatever they might need in terms of their investigation.
Debbie Holmes: So, have you helped identify bones or skeletons from a potential homicide?
Nicholas Passalacqua: I can't get into any specifics, but we help out pretty routinely. And with the program being new here, I hope our notoriety is increasing and the fact that if people ever need us, we're happy to help. And so, we answer the phone whenever folks call. We're always happy to consult with the BCI, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation of Ohio, or any coroner offices or medical examiner's offices in the state. We consult with them pretty routinely.
Debbie Holmes: What kind of jobs are available for graduates?
Nicholas Passalacqua: The jobs that are available for graduates kind of depend on the amount of education they get. So, with the bachelor's level, we're really talking about kind of more entry-level positions that you might expect. So things like autopsy technicians, death investigators, law enforcement. And then for students that continue on and might get a master's or a doctoral degree in anthropology we're talking about people that are practicing forensic anthropologists at medical examiner's offices or coroner's offices or people like me that are teaching forensic anthropology and then consulting when there's a need.
