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Hampikian to return to CCSU for Forensic Science Day

Forensic Science Day for high school students is coming back to the campus of Clayton College & State University. And so is Dr. Greg Hampikian.

While serving on the faculty at Clayton State, one of Hampikian’s best-known programs was Forensic Science Day, wherein several hundred local high school students spent a day on the Clayton State campus, learning about some of the basics, and some of the exotica, of a field that regularly makes headlines through the nation.

This year’s event will be held at Clayton State Friday, May 12, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the University’s Lecture Hall. A total of 420 local high school students will attend lectures from Hampikian and four presenters from the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory on such subjects as DNA, latent prints, firearms, chemical analysis and questioned documents. As has been the case with many past forensic science-related events at Clayton State, Luella High School biology teacher Jane Burke will be directing the event, along with Hampikian.

One of the nation’s foremost DNA experts and forensic scientists, Hampikian was a professor of biology at Clayton State until the end of the spring 2004 term, when he accepted a position as associate professor of biology (forensic science) and outreach director in the School of Arts and Sciences at Boise State University, where he currently teaches graduate forensic biology, genetics, and advanced DNA analysis, in addition to having a research lab which focuses on mitochondrial DNA analysis.

Boise, and Hampikian, are currently in the news regarding the Sarah Johnson case, involving a teenaged girl accused of killing both her parents. Hampikian is the DNA expert on the case, wherein the jury has recently returned a guilty verdict.

The Sarah Johnson case is far from the first time Hampikian has served as an expert in this field. In addition to previously working on cases throughout Georgia as a court-certified expert in Human Genetics and DNA, he has also co-authored "Exit to Freedom" with Calvin Johnson, telling Johnson’s story as the first person freed by DNA evidence in Georgia.

A former resident of Decatur, Hampikian can be reached via his cell phone (404-273-3957) or by e-mail at GREGHAMPIKIAN@boisestate.edu. Burke may be reached at Jane.Burke@henry.k12.ga.us.