Ballistics Professor

As a Ballistics Professor, you teach and train future Forensic Scientists, Ballistics Technicians, and Forensic Ballistics Experts, who will eventually do the scientific analysis of bullets and gunshots at crime scenes and in crime labs.

Anyone who watches Cop dramas on TV is familiar with the term “ballistics.” In the world of “CSI,” “NCIS,” and “Law & Order,” it’s code for “really cool stuff involving bullets.” In the real world, however, ballistics is a lot more complicated than counting bullet holes at crime scenes. It’s serious science, and it demands the expertise of serious Scientists.

These Scientists start out as your students. Employed by a college or university in its criminology department — although a Ballistics Professor might also teach in its physics or engineering department — you teach those students everything they need to know about the physics of firearms so they can help Police Officers catch and convict criminals.

Like a Physics Professor, you teach classes that cover the laws of motion, as ballistics science is all about understanding the flight, behavior, and effects of projectiles (bullets, mostly, but also bombs, rockets, and missiles), knowledge of which helps Forensic Ballistics Experts establish what types of weapons and ammunition were used in a shooting, as well as the location, distance, and angle of the shooter.

Because a Ballistics Professor is a Professor like any other, your responsibilities include creating lesson plans and curriculums, advising students, delivering lectures, assigning and grading homework, and administering exams — just like a traditional Teacher. Instead of English, history, or math, however, you teach “bullets”!