Forensic Botanist
by Samantha Melillo
What is your part in forensics?
Forensic Botanists look to plant life in order to gain information regarding possible crimes. Being able to identify leaves, seeds and pollen on a body, can give the results of how long the body has been gone for. Forensic botanists do NOT work with human remains.
College requirements
Full-time forensic botanist careers are available in federal agencies, such as the FBI and the DEA, as well as in private sector and university settings. Many forensic botanists work in the field of botany and provide consultation and contract services to law enforcement agencies and forensic laboratories.
A degree in botany (emphasis in field biology).
Needed and reccomended coursework:
- Environmental Appreciation
- Plant Form and Function
- Career Planning for Botanists
- Plant Genetics
- Evolutionary Survey of Plants
- Plant Physiology
- Introduction to Natural Resource Management
- Biology of the Plant Cell
- Soils
- Plant Ecology
- Plant Geography
- Mycology- Study of fungi
- Algology- study of algae
- Plant Evolution
- Cell Culture
- Topics in Botany
- Advanced Field Botany
- Organic Chemistry
- Quantitative Analysis
- College Physics