Master of Science in Forensic and Biological Anthropology
Program Philosophy
The master of science degree program in anthropology represents the first program in the country focused primarily on providing students with a comprehensive basic training regiment in the combined fields of forensic and biological anthropology.
This will be accomplished by a rigorous curriculum that includes a strong grounding in biological/ bioarchaeological anthropology, but with a significant focus on all of the major components of the discipline of forensic anthropology, including forensic osteology, forensic archaeology, forensic taphonomy, and skeletal trauma.
Most graduates of the program will be encouraged to continue their education in a doctoral program within the disciplines of forensic anthropology, biological anthropology, criminal justice, or forensic sciences. They will possess extensive academic, field and laboratory skills in both forensic anthropology and physical anthropology that will allow them to compete academically with other graduate students in any of the top biological or forensic anthropological doctoral programs.
The mixture of academic and hands-on abilities will ensure that our students will strongly compete with other graduate students for teaching assistantships, and for grant and scholarship monies.
Other graduates will choose to seek placement/employment with local, state and federal agencies. As a result of the extensive casework experience, graduates will be able to perform professionally in crime scene data collection situations assisting law enforcement officials, professional forensic anthropologists, and other forensic scientists. They will be able to conduct search, documentation, and data recovery exercises involving a variety of outdoor, fire, and mass fatality scenes, as well as, conduct preliminary analyses of human remains recovered from a wide variety of forensic scenes.
For additional information about the Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute, please visit http://mai.mercyhurst.edu/.