Human Identification Lab at Chico State

Graduate & Undergraduate Students

Students practice field recoveryCSU, Chico offers a multidisciplinary Certificate in Forensic Science(opens in new window), available to both graduate and undergraduate students. HIL alumni have a high placement rate with a wide variety of agencies, from local sheriff-coroners offices to state and federal government agencies. 

The HIL provides hands-on training in human skeletal biology and common forensic practices for graduate students and undergraduate student interns, including:

  • Reconstruction of fragmented and burned remains
  • Skeletal analysis
  • Techniques in identification
  • Analysis of skeletal pathology and trauma

Student measures a boneGraduate students assist faculty in search and recovery of human remains for local, state, and federal agencies and, alongside faculty, provide invaluable forensic services to partner agencies.

Students wishing to pursue a career in one of the forensic sciences should consult advisors in anthropology, biology, or chemistry. Entry-level employment and graduate programs in criminalistics commonly require a major in one of the physical or natural sciences, including a year of General Chemistry and a course in Quantitative Analysis.