MARQUETTE, MI-- Northern Michigan University continues to move forward with plans to develop a forensic anthropology program and research facility.
Dr. Kerri Schuiling is NMU’s provost and vice president for academic affairs. She says individuals who donate their bodies to science would be buried in an isolated, secure facility so natural decomposition could be studied, which would help officials determine time, cause, and location of death.
Schuiling says there are only six other such facilities in the U.S., and none deal with cold temperatures like those that are found in the U.P.
“Since 1982 when the first facility was opened it’s been recognized that there is very much a need to have one of these facilities where there are extremes of cold. We certainly have that here.”
Schuiling says the new program would tie together anthropology and criminal justice studies, and provide a training site for Public Safety and the Michigan State Police Crime Lab.
She says there is significant interest in the forensic anthropology field, which is growing. Schuiling notes that could encourage higher enrollment at NMU.
