PRESIDENTIAL CLASSROOM PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS TOUR MUSEUM

Thirty-six high school juniors and seniors visited the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) and the National Museum of Health and Medicine on March 3 as a part of a Presidential Classroom (PC) program called "Science, Technology, and Public Policy."

The students toured the AFIP's scientific laboratories and the museum's exhibits, and listened to presentations given by museum staff.

PC, founded in 1968 and based in Washington, D.C., is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization that offers week-long educational programs to qualified high school juniors and seniors in order to expose them to different types of career fields. The students' visit to the museum focused on forensic anthropology and neuroscience.

The students participated in hands-on forensic workshops led by museum docents Marianne Jessee and Marjorie Hughes, where they tried to determine the identity of a mystery victim using information in the museum's exhibits.

Lenore Barbian, Ph.D., assistant curator for the museum's anatomical collections, gave a lecture in which she told the students about the principles of forensic anthropology and described its various professional applications.

Archie Fobbs, curator of the museum's neuroanatomical collections, spoke about the ways in which brain function affects human behavior and helped the students handle real human brains. "We were pleased to host this program," said Adrianne Noe, Ph.D., museum director. "As an educational institution, the museum is an ideal place to learn about the career possibilities in the scientific and medical professions."