 |
 |
 |
 |
Jimi was always interested in developing the middle school section of the fair seeing it as a vital link between young children and their natural interest in the world about them and older teens and adults who put those dreams and interests of science into practice by entering the field of science as a professional or para-professional.
The 2007 Greater St. Louis Science Fair, The Academy of Science of St. Louis and The Monsanto Fund and Pfizer-St. Louis would like to congratulate this years winner of the Melba "Jimi" James Award - Melissa Rey of Parkway Central Middle School for her study, “The Great Crime Scene Show Down…” and her work in the How To workshops and the “Discovery Award Winners Workshop”.
Science is a discovery process - students often find that as they decide upon an idea to pursue it often leads them into areas they would have never considered - but like true scientific discovery and processes the experimenter often finds themselves charting new ground, learning new things and gaining a better understanding of the world and their particular project of interest.
Melissa did the technical part of her work at the St. Louis County Crime Lab through the assistance of Lt. Campbell. As part of the process Melissa learned, from discussions with Lt. Campbell, what is entailed in evidence gathering and classification. Melissa is seen below talking to Lt. Campbell.
Below we see Melissa working with one of the County Crime Lab technicians as she takes and tests samples of different stains on a shirt to determine their composition and origin.
About her project, Melissa explains - "I got interested in doing an experiment on forensics because I love to watch crime shows on TV. I have always wondered if the spray they use in the TV shows to reveal blood that a criminal tried to wash away worked as well in real life as it did on TV. The St. Louis County Crime lab came to a Science Olympiad at my school last year. They had all sorts of cool demonstrations of how they investigated crime scenes. I e-mailed one of the investigators at the lab and asked her lots of questions. She invited me to take a tour of the lab, which was amazing! I got to see how police matched bullets to crime scenes, how they ran DNA tests, and how police spray Luminol to glow and show up latent blood. I did a lot of research on the internet and I found this new spray called Bluestar. I e-mailed the president of the company for more information, and he wrote me back. He said Bluestar was better becuase it lasted longer and didn't need darkness to see it glowing (like Luminol). I also e-mailed the FBI to find out what methods they used. The FBI said they let their investigators choose what spray they want to use at each crime scene. For my experiment, I made a fake crime scene by putting synthetic blood on drywall and cleaning it off 5 different ways. I build a measurement chamber, hung a light sensor in it, and took readings of the glow from Bluestar and Luminol. I found out that Bluestar glowed brighter most of the time, but not alll the time. I agree with the FBI that it is the best idea to pick what spray to use depending on the crime scene. Luminol is best when there is a very small amount of blood and the area is already dark. Bluestar is better to use when it is light and there is more blood at the crime scene. I really enjoyed my experiment, and I thought it was really great how many people wrote back and helped me with my experiment."
Congratulations Melissa for a job well done and for sharing your experience with other students through your workshop presentations.