Forensic Science Professor Brings Her Innovative VR Tech to RWU

BRISTOL, R.I. – On a Tuesday afternoon in March, Kali Atkins swabs blood pooled next to a deceased man in an alley. She bags the swab and continues walking around the murder scene, collecting and marking more evidence.

Atkins, a first-year Forensic Science major from Redlands, Calif., wasn’t physically at a crime scene that day, but she was fully immersed in one.

As a student in Karla-Sue Marriott’s Crime Scene Investigations course, she has access to a cutting-edge program for teaching Forensic Science that Marriott, professor and director of Forensic Science at RWU, created.

“It’s a very immersive experience,” Marriott, who joined RWU in August 2021, said about the first, one-of-a-kind, virtual-reality crime-scene training program for undergraduate Forensic Science students. “Students get to feel how overwhelming processing a crime scene can be.”

“We are very fortunate to have Professor Marriott join us here at Roger,” said Eric Bronson, dean of the School of Justice Studies and a Criminal Justice professor. “She’s an energetic, vibrant part of the University already. Students are thriving around her.”

VR Program Offers Unique Experience

Because Marriott helped develop the VR program, “We are one of two schools in the country that has this technology,” Bronson said. “The students are getting cutting-edge technology experience and education that they would not get anywhere else.”

Prior to RWU, Marriott worked at Savannah State University, where she developed this program along with Vizitech USA “to help students experience what it’s like to process a crime scene,” she said. The program includes a crime scene processing component as well as a blood spatter simulator that lets students calculate bloodstain patterns to determine the actions that caused the bloodshed.

Forensic Science is a great way to teach science, Marriott said. “I don’t necessarily expect students to go into careers in law enforcement or at a forensics lab, but for them to have many options.”

Having undergraduate students work a real crime scene isn’t feasible because it’s too dangerous, Marriott said, but VR has “made research at the undergraduate level for Chemistry and Forensic Science limitless.”

“Once you’re in, it’s a transformation. It’s a whole new world,” said Atkins, who had never used VR before Marriott’s class. “It feels like you’re actually on the case. It does feel real (like) there is a body lying there. … I am a detective collecting actual evidence.”

This semester, Marriott introduced students in her Crime Scene Investigations course to the VR program, which allows users to explore multiple crime scene scenarios, all inspired by real-life events, she said. Students use virtual tools including evidence markers, items to collect blood and fingerprints, and more.

The program can assess students and whether they put on the proper gear and use the correct tools. As Marriott explains, there are answers to each of the randomized scenarios, but students aren’t evaluated based on “right” answers. “Rather they are evaluated on how they manage processing the scene, collecting evidence, and documenting and presenting that evidence,” she said. “They are asked to propose a theory based upon the evidence they collected.”

Students work in groups of four, each taking on different roles. One student uses an Oculus headset, which immerses them in the VR scene, while the other students take notes and make sure the student wearing the headset doesn’t bump into anything in the classroom while they’re walking around the VR world.

“It’s great fun to watch them,” Bronson said about observing the students using the VR program. While it reminds him of students playing a video game, he said that “what’s great is they’re actually learning something that will benefit them for years to come.” 

It’s one thing to talk about the tools that students will use to process a crime scene, but it’s another thing to have them go into VR and use the equipment for themselves, Marriott said. “One student said she never understood the value of a compass until she went into virtual reality and used it there,” she said. “You wouldn’t necessarily have these things available unless you’re at an actual crime scene.”  

While they’re processing a crime scene, students can use a camera in the VR program that takes photos of the scene or a calculator to help them analyze the trajectory of blood spatter. Each group keeps a digital folder with the photographs and evidence they collect to help them write their report at the end.

The VR program offers students a more immersive and realistic experience as opposed to just learning about it in a textbook or setting up a mock crime scene on campus, where students can be distracted by external factors.

“In this immersive environment, students completely forget where they are,” Marriott said.

“You’re in another world. It’s mind-blowing,” Kyle Rocha, a senior Forensic Science major from Taunton, Mass., who’s also minoring in both Criminal Justice and Biology, said about using VR in Marriott’s class. “Once you get in there, it’s hard to describe. When I stepped in the first time, I was amazed by it.”

Learning how to navigate crime scenes in VR affords students opportunities that they likely wouldn’t have in college otherwise, he said. For example, he said, students can learn to calculate blood spatter in VR but that’s not something professors and students would create in real life. “It’s more realistic and easier in VR,” he said. 

Especially during the pandemic, “you can’t put a (cadaver) in here and analyze it,” he said.

While the VR program provides a comprehensive experience, there is, of course, no substitute for the real thing. Atkins said what students are not getting virtually is the hands-on experience of collecting actual, concrete evidence, like swabbing under a dead person’s fingernails.

Few Forensic Science undergrads do. But it’s still worth it, she said. The interactivity of VR is much more engaging than looking at photos of crime scenes and trying to solve the case, she said.

“If you did a mock crime scene, you could do more steps, but VR is better because you don’t have to set everything up (and) it feels more real,” Atkins said.

Atkins, who said she’s thinking about minoring in Psychology or Criminal Justice and whose career aspiration is to become a blood spatter analyst, said, “VR is a strong learning device to go into blood spatter.”

Most of Marriott’s students have no previous experience using VR, which hasn’t been a problem, she said. Before diving into the program, students are required to participate in a tutorial.

It’s easy to learn, Rocha said. “Anyone can really do it.”

Though the nature of crime scenes may be triggering for some, Marriott said that she hasn’t had any students with concerns. Though “crime scenes can get very visual,” the program uses crash-test dummy figures “so it’s not so gory,” she said. The crash test dummies “make it very mechanical,” she said.

Marriott Drawn to RWU’s Innovative Spirit

Marriott joined RWU last summer to have the opportunity to work on a Forensic Science program that’s looking to grow, she said. While Forensic Science programs are often located within science departments at other higher educational institutions, Forensic Science at RWU is part of the School of Justice Studies, combined with rigorous Biology or Chemistry coursework through the School of Social and Natural Sciences, which develops an interdisciplinary skillset and deeper understanding of the interconnected role of forensic science within criminal justice work. This academic structure “gives it the potential to be more innovative,” she said. “I get to build my own.”   

In academia, “you want to be able to be creative and innovative and surrounded by like-minded faculty who are open (to new ideas),” she said. “(RWU) seems like a good place to be.”

When asked what her favorite part about teaching is, Marriott said, “You get to be creative, especially at the college level. A lot of times I’m learning from students. It’s exciting, constantly changing, innovative.”

While she’s also a director, Marriott said she looks forward to being in the classroom. “I really like being around young people and feeding off their creative ideas and being innovative.”  

Atkins said she adores Marriott, who also taught her Introduction to Forensic Science class. “She’s fun to work with,” she said. “I look forward to coming to class and talking with her.”

A Pioneer in Forensic Science

Before joining RWU, Marriott served as the founding program coordinator for the forensic science program at Savannah State University from 2011-2021 and as interim chairperson for the chemistry and forensic science department. At SSU, she founded the Visual, Immersive and Tangible Applications in Learning (VITAL) STEM imaging exploration center and created the Bachelor of Science degree program in forensic science.

As a scientist and educator, Marriott has directed, as principal investigator (PI) and CoPI, various National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Defense, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration funded projects.

In 2001, Marriott received her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of the West Indies, Jamaica (Mona Campus). The following year she joined Clemson University as a postdoctoral research fellow in Professor John W. Huffman’s medicinal chemistry team, where she conducted research in cannabinoid chemistry.

As an organic chemist, Marriott said her current biomedical research goals focus on creating potential pharmaceuticals that can treat or teach more about central nervous system disorders such as dementia, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s as well as addiction treatment.

In her spare time, Marriott is a self-taught freehand naturalist painter. Her medium is acrylic, oil and mixed media on canvas. Some of her work is hanging in her office.

“It’s like going into virtual reality,” she said about painting. “It’s immersive.”

Crime Scene Investigations