Alexander Plaza
Mr.Ippolito
3/26/18
Forensics Review
Gordon, Martin. “How Do Forensic Engineers Investigate Bridge Collapses, Like the One in Miami?” Scientific American, 25 Mar. 2018, www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-forensic-engineers-investigate-bridge-collapses-like-the-one-in-miami/.
The article I read was “How Do Forensic Engineers Investigate Bridge Collapses, Like the One in Miami” by Martin Gordon. I thought it did a good job describing the way forensic engineers investigate catastrophes like bridge collapses. The article is written by a forensic engineer who describes many of procedures and difficulties of investigating structural collapses. Gordon explains how the first step is always collection of evidence, which can be made because that process cannot start until rescue operations are conducted.Those operations displace material and can damage evidence,which means forensic engineers must study the emergency response as well, to be able to tell whether, for instance, a support column collapsed during the event or was destroyed to reach a victim in need of help”, explains Gordon. Forensic engineers gather samples and analyze data all together to determine what went wrong, how, and in what order. They look at the construction and blueprints of the structure and the history of the structure. They check samples for evidence of pointing to corrosion and other problems. Gordon goes on to explain the techniques engineers are using to look at the bridge in Miami specifically.
The work of forensic engineers is very important to our society. Analysis after collapses and structural failure is extremely important in preventing the same problems in the future and preventing any more harm to society.
Overall this article was very strong. The author has been a forensic engineer for nearly 20 years and is the 2018 president of the National Academy of Forensic Engineers so the article is written by credible and informed author. The author was somewhat vague about some of the evidence gathered so if the author was more specific there then the article would be improved.
2 comments:
Gordon, Martin. “How Do Forensic Engineers Investigate Bridge Collapses, Like the One in Miami?” Scientific American, 25 Mar. 2018, www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-forensic-engineers-investigate-bridge-collapses-like-the-one-in-miami/.
Alex’s review of “How Do Forensic Engineers Investigate Bridge Collapses, Like the One in Miami?” was a very interesting review. First of all, it really helped that he stated that forensic engineers must study the emergency response as well, to be able to tell if the evidence has been tampered with. In addition, the fact that he had a lot of details about what exactly forensic engineers do when they get a crime scene aided me in understanding this topic better and gave me some additional information about it. Finally, Alex did a really good job in making this review quite thorough by adding a quote from the article, furthering our knowledge about the role of forensic engineerings.
Although this review was very interesting, one way it could have been made better is that Alex could have gone back through the review and elaborated a bit more on why this article is important to society so that the review was more sophisticated. By reading it over and adding a few sentences, he could have avoided this problem and made his review more thought out. Moreover, I would have added more information on the techniques used by forensics engineers with the bridges in Miami. By adding one or two sentences about that topic he could have made his review even more thorough.
Overall, this review was captivating and thought-provoking. I had never heard about this this type of forensic specialist, so I was intrigued when I read Alex’s review. Thus, learning about this new type of specialist was very enlightening and taught me many new things. Reading this review made me realize that there are many different types of people that work crimes, and that it takes many different people to solve one crime.
Kelsey Ravesloot
Current Event 21
Gordon, Martin. “How Do Forensic Engineers Investigate Bridge Collapses, Like the One in Miami?” Scientific American, 25 Mar. 2018, www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-forensic-engineers-investigate-bridge-collapses-like-the-one-in-miami/.
I read Alex Plaza’s review of the article “How Do Forensic Engineers Investigate Bridge Collapses, Like the One in Miami?” this week. Alex did an excellent job of providing a clear summary of the article. It was very clear. He also used a quote from the author and made the review more fascinating. Lastly, I liked that he provided a background of the author in the last paragraph.
There were a few things Alex could do to make his review better. Alex could have included more quotes. I like the one he put, but providing more data from the article would make it more interesting to the reader. Also, it felt like he rushed his review. He could have gone more into detail when talking about the article.
I really enjoyed the article Alex picked. It’s interesting to think of the many different situations forensics is used in. When I heard about the bridge collapsing, I did not even think about the investigation that had to be done. It was really nice to read a review on a forensic engineering, rather than typical forensic investigations (like murder scenes).
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