Posted on Monday, October 26, 2009
A producer and camera crew from CBS News' 48 Hours investigative program shot footage in ¾¨Ó㴫ý's Chemistry Department in September.
Two very brief clips from the filming session aired as part of the Oct. 17 48 Hours Mystery coverage of the Caylee Anthony murder case in Florida. Additional footage may be used next summer when the case goes to trial. Boylan and the ¾¨Ó㴫ý Department of Chemistry were included in the show's credits.
Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) was used for forensics analysis related to the Anthony investigation, but those involved in that case could not discuss it. A 48 Hours producer found the research abstract of 2009 ¾¨Ó㴫ý biochemistry graduate Mallory Lichwa's LIBS project online. The project, which Lichwa presented at a research conference, involved the forensics analysis of fingernail polish using LIBS.
Lichwa, a graduate of Yough High School, is a daughter of Michael and Amy Lichwa of West Newton and a granddaughter of Genevieve Ewig of Greensburg and Margaret Lichwa of West Newton. She is planning to pursue a master's degree in education to become a high school chemistry teacher.
The producer contacted Lichwa's research mentor, Dr. Helen Boylan, ¾¨Ó㴫ý associate professor of chemistry, to discuss the technique and later arrange a visit.
The film crew created a set surrounding the LIBS instrumentation, supplied by Dan Willoughby of D&N Scientific, in a back laboratory of the chemistry department and shot footage of Boylan and Lichwa using it.
Boylan and junior chemistry major Nathan Barefoot demonstrated headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, another technique related to the Anthony case, on film.
Barefoot is a son of Deborah Barefoot of Huntingdon and a graduate of Huntingdon Area High School.
Boylan, a 1995 ¾¨Ó㴫ý graduate who joined the faculty in 2001, earned a Ph.D. from Duquesne University.
Contact Boylan at (724) 946-6293 or e-mail boylanhm@westminster.edu for additional information. Visit to view photos from the filming.
