Ambassador for science?
Fisher joined the L.A. County crime lab in 1969, has been its director since 1987, and is a national spokesman for forensic scientists. He says that fame has mostly been good for his field, but that there are also minor drawbacks. “CSI pays more than the government does, so a lot of the technical consultants on that show used to work for us,” he says. “But the folks on the show have also been very generous.” When a consortium of national forensic science organizations went to lobby in Washington DC recently, the show sent one of their stars to help out. CSI also contributed to the California Forensic Science Institute and its goal of a new regional crime lab at Cal State Los Angeles. The new building, which is almost ready for occupancy, will bring state-of-the-art forensic science techniques to more cases in Southern California.

“Forensics is a way to make science relevant,” says Fisher. “I am a chemist, and I know that it is hard to get young people interested in the field by simply talking about molecules. But if you can give them a real-world example of what organic chemistry can do, they begin to think it’s cool. Forensics is an antidote to the idea that scientists are nerds.”

The 12 years since O.J. Simpson’s trial ended have transformed forensics. “The quality of our job applicants has absolutely improved,” says Fisher. “If we’re hiring for a position that requires a undergraduate degree, half of the applicants will have a masters degree and it is not uncommon to see them with doctoral degrees. Also, there are usually more candidates than there are jobs. But at the same time, crime labs are hiring lots of people because of the growth of DNA evidence.”

Barry Fisher
The day may come soon when someone with a degree in criminology cannot find a job in the field. “But that isn’t a bad thing, because forensics training can be a gateway to traditional jobs in science and medicine,” says Fisher. “Young people who get into science through crime investigation will often move on to other areas of science.

“A few years ago, when I was president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, I pleaded with the National Science Foundation to focus more on the field. I got nowhere. Some high-up NSF guy said to me, ‘forensic science is not real science. We’re only involved in real science.’ And even now, the number of forensics research projects at NSF is close to zero. So it amuses me when people wring their hands about a crisis in getting school children interested in science. Forensics does that. It is a positive side effect.”

A crime lab as seen on “CSI”

Shankar got a PhD in applied physics from Cornell in 1990. He interviewed in his field and would have taken a position at Apple Computer, but when he didn’t get that job he decided to try screenwriting. “Had I known the actual odds of success, I wouldn’t have done it,” he says. His writing credits ranged from space operas like “Star Trek: The Next Generation” to cop shows like “Undercover” before he landed at CSI five years ago. He says the show’s producers are acutely aware of the impact they are having on young viewers. “Interest in forensics at the college and postgraduate level has just exploded, and we have close ties to that community,” he says. “I know that an actual crime lab has fluorescent lights and old equipment and cinderblock walls. But I also know people don’t want to look at that.”

CSI is a “research intensive” show, says Shankar, and “the techniques and the instrumentation we show is all real. We have two criminologists working full-time as script advisors, and one who is a full-time set advisor.” Aside from the shiny surfaces, another big difference between the show and reality is how long it takes to get results. “But the labs are catching up to us,” he says. “You can do an actual DNA test almost as fast now as we do it on the show. When those tests began, they took much longer.

Naren Shankar

“The appeal of the show is empirical analysis,” he says. “People love to know how things work and they like to be taken into those roles. That’s why we push the camera into carpet fibers and through cadavers. Going into things is part of the appeal. And this might sound odd, but the main thing I bring to the show from my background in science is my comfort with peer review. There is a lot of revision in television. When the revisions start, I fall back on my training to see how a mystery might play out. If a fingerprint is six inches off the floor instead of three feet off the floor, what does that imply? When we tear apart a script and put it back together so it’s better, that is peer review.”

Shankar knows that students are getting excited about science when they watch his show, but he doesn’t write for them specifically. With about 22 million viewers for an average episode, “the show is a classic mainstream broadcast hit,” he says. “We get fan mail from everyone — even scientists.”

In this presentation educators had the opportunity to learn about the eSkeletons web site, a virtual laboratory, where bones specimens can be used by teachers and students in the classroom. The presenters used the example of primate locomotion and talked about the intermembral index and how this figure is calculated. The intermembral index provides information about the primate’s locomotion category (terrestrial quadruped, aboreal quadruped, clingers/leapers, suspensory, or bipeds) and the environment where it lives. Using the eSkeletons web site, students can select different bones to measure in order to determine the primate’s locomotion category. All participants received a copy of NSTA’s SciGuide on Organisms, grades 5-8.

Web Seminar: Bones - A Virtual Lab - Resources

Archive
See a recorded version of the Web Seminar.

PowerPoint Presentation

PC Download: To view online select link below to display in browser. To download PowerPoint slides to your desktop right click on the link below and select “save target as” from the drop down menu. MAC Download: To download PowerPoint slides to your desktop control + click on the link below and select “Save Linked File As…” Download File Web Seminar: Bones PowerPoint Presentation (6.66 Mb):Websites National Science Digital Library http://www.nsdl.org eSkeletons http://www.eskeletons.org Boneyard Science: Forensics http://expertvoices.nsdl.org this post copied from web page http://institute.nsta.org/NSDL/webseminar3.asp

Cheryl Heuton and Nick Falacci, co-creators of “Numb3rs” Credit and Larger Version

April 16, 2007

The popular television drama series “Numb3rs,” about an FBI agent whose brother, a genius mathematician, helps solve crimes in the Los Angeles area by using mathematical problem-solving techniques, will receive a National Science Board group Public Service Award for 2007, along with the program’s co-creators, Nick Falacci and Cheryl Heuton.

The CBS Paramount-produced drama and its two collaborators will be honored for their contributions toward increasing scientific and mathematical literacy on a broad scale at a ceremony May 14 at the State Department in Washington, D.C.

“Numb3rs” is the first television series on which Falacci and Heuton have collaborated. Wisely bringing in several mathematicians as consultants, the producers were able to provide realism to the mathematical theories employed in the crime-solving cases of each episode. Experts say that the various theories and mathematical problems and equations used on the program are easily transferable to equivalent real-world situations. Cryptanalysis, probability theory, game theory, decision theory, principal components analysis, multivariate time series analysis and astrophysics are just some of the many disciplines employed in the series thus far. Working mathematicians of the Mathematical Association of America have recognized the accuracy and validity of the theories and their presentations on the program.

“Nick and I felt that a mathematician could be an exciting TV character because many mathematicians are natural detectives and inventive problem-solvers,” Heuton said. “Because of their creativity and rigorous training in logic, they often have a unique way of looking at the world. CBS was quick to understand that the amazing things being done with math today could be the basis of a new kind of crime show. We designed it around a family to give it a strong emotional basis, and to show the audience the human side of both the mathematician and his FBI agent brother. The math gave people something new to think about, even though it’s already a constant and vital part of their lives. We hope the show brings home that reality, and encourages more people to be excited about math and science.”

“Numb3rs” is in its third season, and not only does it have a loyal audience, but the show has spawned a large fan base on the Internet with blogs and fan sites. The show has also led to the creation of other educational programs that explore topics employing scientific theory or processes.

“Numb3rs” is currently the most-watched program on Friday nights, attracting nearly 12 million viewers. Rob Morrow, who plays FBI agent Don Eppes, is a devoted family man often consumed by his crime-solving passion. David Krumholtz plays Morrow’s brother, Charlie Eppes. Charlie finds the solutions to many complex cases through his mathematical genius, yet often finds himself in philosophical conflict with his brother. Charlie is kept in check, partly by his protective father, Alan Eppes (Judd Hirsch). Best friend and colleague Larry Fleinhardt (Peter MacNicol), a physicist, along with sometimes girlfriend and former student Amita Ramanujan (Navi Rawat), keep Charlie in focus with his work. Fans on the Internet have followed closely the characters’ developing relationships over time.

The “Numb3rs” series has spawned many learning opportunities for students. Mathematics teachers are employing the lessons of “Numb3rs” in their classrooms. Also, Web-based programs have appeared. One of them, developed by Texas Instruments, in conjunction with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, provides a wide range of activities in “We All Use Math Every Day” (http://www.weallusematheveryday.com/tools/waumed/home.htm). The Texas Instruments program engages students with many of the concepts seen on “Numb3rs” to show how mathematics may be applied to their world.

As for Falacci and Heuton, creators of “Numb3rs,” both are now accomplished screenwriters, although they came from somewhat different backgrounds prior to pooling their talents for the series. Heuton studied literature at the University of California, San Diego, and for a time wrote for newspapers in Southern California. Falacci, a native of Massachusetts, attended the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, where he developed his screenwriting skills. Teaming up with Heuton, the two collaborators found more in common than writing, and eventually married.

This year the National Science Board will recognize University of Wisconsin chemistry professor and educator, Bassam Z. Shakhashiri, with a 2007 individual Public Service Award.

The annual Public Service Award recognizes individuals and organizations for their extraordinary contributions to increase public understanding of science. Recipients are chosen for their contributions to public service in areas such as: increasing the public’s understanding of the scientific process and its communication; contributing to the development of broad science and engineering policy; promoting the engagement of scientists and engineers in public outreach; and fostering awareness of science and technology among broad segments of the population.

The National Science Board initiated the Public Service Award in 1996. The first honorees were named in 1998. The board is an independent 24-member body of policy advisors to the President and Congress on matters of science and engineering research and education, and is the oversight body for the National Science Foundation, an independent federal agency that supports almost all areas of fundamental research nationwide.

-NSF-
Related Websites
National Science Board: http://www.nsf.gov/nsb
2007 Public Service Award Group Recipients: http://www.cbs.com/primetime/numb3rs/about.shtml
2007 Public Service Award Individual Recipient: http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu?BZSbio/biosketch.html
Public Service Awards History and Criteria: http://www.nsf.gov/nsb/awards/public/public.htm#criteria
This press release

About 6.2 million people a night watch real scientists struggle on the “CBS Evening News,” and the median age of this audience is 60. But 22 million people watch scientists win every week on CBS’s “Crime Scene Investigation,” and the show’s biggest fans are children and college students. They ogle when a stylish blonde picks up a piece of shrapnel with tweezers. They lean forward when gas chromatography identifies the chemicals used to make the bomb. They tingle when flat-panel computer screens show a database analysis that reveals the address that sold the chemicals. They cheer when the cops use the research results to catch the bad guys. And when they go to school the next day, a lot of them have questions.

We got the idea for a blog about science on television when we noticed that the big theme at this year’s meeting of the National Science Teachers Association was forensics. The exhibit hall was full of booths selling science lessons packaged into crime scenes. It isn’t hard to see the connection. A recent article in Popular Science estimated that the big four networks are running 15 successful prime-time dramas this season in which medicine, science, or technology play a defining role. During the entire decade of the 1990s, there were only ten science-based dramas.

Dr. Harold Varmus:

“We all need to become cheerleaders for science.”

The weekly triumphs of dashing young TV scientists are an important and hopeful development, says Dr. Harold Varmus, who won a Nobel for genetics, ran the National Institutes of Health during the Clinton Administration, and is now CEO of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. During an April 30 appearance at Cornell University, Varmus recited a long list of political and cultural challenges facing science in the U.S., including his personal top-ten list of places where Creationism has run amok. But he ended by citing an upsurge in high-quality entertainment that celebrates science, including the opera Dr. Atomic and the play Copenhagen. “When things get serious, people turn to science for answers,” he said. “And if things are going to happen the way we want them to, we all need to become cheerleaders for science.”

I don’t know if a Nobel Prize winner would ever watch “CSI,” but if this one did, I bet he’d enjoy it. This blog is about Hollywood’s cheerleaders for science and the effects they are having in classrooms.