Careers in Forensic Analysis of Drugs, Fire Debris, and Accelerants
We encourage interested college students to apply for an internship in the Chemistry Section. According to GBI policy, the internship program is open to full-time students who are currently pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree at an accredited college or university. All intern applicants must meet the following criteria:
- In good academic standing with their college or university
- Must be enrolled in school during the semester/quarter the student plans to intern
- Recommended by their college or university to participate in the program.
The internship program is administered by the GBI Personnel Office – all interested students should contact the Personnel Office for more information.
In general, intern duties include:
- Researching new analytical techniques for use in Drug Identification
- Developing and improving chemical extraction techniques
- Troubleshooting instruments such as Raman and FTIR
- Preparing materials for Marijuana ID class
- Attending instrumental theory and drug analysis lectures given by the section’s Technical Leader
- Organizing records and files kept by the Chemistry Section
This summer (2008), we were fortunate to have two interns. Our interns worked on the following specific projects:
- Measurement Uncertainty – Thousands of data points were collected as numerous bags of various weights and sizes were weighed. Chemistry will be able to provide very useful information about the measurement uncertainty on drug evidence submitted.
- Investigation of a potential counterfeit material for crystal methamphetamine.
- Salvia Divinorum Project – Development of a mixed standard to test for Salvia Divinorum in the TLC systems found in literature research. [contributed to a poster presentation given at a most recent Southern Association of Forensic Scientists (SAFS) meeting]
- GHB Project – Using ATR-IR spectroscopy, samples were screened for GHBin varying concentrations in aqueous solutions.
- POST Marijuana Course Preparation – Preparation of test samples for marijuana school.
In the summer of 2007, we hosted two interns who worked on the following projects:
- Stability of Standards - About 130 manual injections were made on the GC/MS. After data analysis, the standards were determined to be stable for up to two years.
- GC/MS Liner - Investigation of several injection port liners for the GC/MS, in order to determine the optimal liners for the Chemistry Section’s needs.
- Raman Spectrometer Consistency - Analyses of different known samples were taken at various times over several days. The data collected will be given to the Technical Leader for evaluation.
- Psilocin/chocolate extraction - Development of a technique/procedure to extract psilocin from chocolate matrices, and determination of the smallest amount of mushrooms that can be detected in a chocolate mixture.
- Methamphetamine Isomer Determination - This project consisted mainly of research to find a suitable reagent for Levo-Methamphetamine. MTPA was determined to be a better alternative than the currently used TCP. The cost of MTPA, however, outweighs its effectiveness.
- POST Marijuana Course Preparation - A week was devoted to preparing test samples for marijuana school. Enough samples were made to prepare the instructor for one class.
- Spectra Library Database - Compiled a list of controlled substances currently not in the IDDA (Instrumental Data for Drug Analysis). The list consisted of scheduled drugs (I-IV) that were produced from 1995 to 2007.
Special thanks to both of our interns, who provided the specific information for this page.
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