The ominous poster for this summer’s CSI:MTSU forensic youth camp will be no match for the curious young investigators ready to dive right in to the scene and “solve a whirlwind of a mystery.”

Click on the poster above for more information, including registration details.

Registration is underway now for CSI:MTSU, a four-day program for area students who’ll be entering ninth through 12th grades.

This year’s camp is scheduled June 24-27 at MTSU, and, like the seven camps preceding it, features a different crime scenario and different locations on and around the MTSU campus.

Sponsored by MTSU’s Forensic Institute for Research and Education, CSI:MTSU lets students explore career opportunities in forensic science, gives them real-life support for higher-level math and science courses and helps develop skills in teamwork, seeing and understanding details, critical thinking and making presentations.

Registration is $250 per student, which includes all camp activities, labs, lunches, snacks and a CSI:MTSU T-shirt for each camper.

For more information or to register online, visit the CSI:MTSU Camp Main Page. You also can call 615-494-7713.

The CSI:MTSU campers will venture to the Tennessee Fire and Codes Academy near Deason, Tenn., on their first day, where they’ll learn about this year’s windswept crime. They’ll be faced with a re-creation of an actual crime scene and be divided into teams to solve the crime with the help of forensic professionals serving as coaches.

Campers will learn the fundamentals of collecting and processing all the evidence they’ve discovered, including fingerprints, fibers, DNA, shoe prints and simulated blood spatter. They’ll learn how to conduct interviews and develop theories as a team, then they’ll present their findings and conclusions to a panel of forensic scientists on the last day of camp.

Along with CSI:MTSU camps, the Forensic Institute for Research and Education, established in 2006 by MTSU anthropology professor Dr. Hugh Berryman, offers free public lectures featuring renowned forensic-science experts each semester.

FIRE also provides regular educational and training opportunities for law enforcement, medical examiners, coroners, attorneys, social workers and other groups in forensic science and homeland security.

You can learn more about FIRE by visiting www.mtsu.edu/fire or emailing fire@mtsu.edu.

— Gina E. Fann (gina.fann@mtsu.edu)