California State University, Chico does not offer a standalone bachelor’s or master’s degree titled forensic science or forensic anthropology. Instead, Chico State organizes its relevant study options around a new Forensic Science Minor, anthropology degrees with forensic anthropology coursework, and computing programs that include digital or network forensics.
The university’s most distinctive resource is its Human Identification Laboratory, which provides forensic anthropology services and student training related to human remains recovery, skeletal analysis, identification, trauma, and pathology. This gives Chico’s anthropology pathways a different focus from chemistry-based criminalistics programs.
Students interested in laboratory analysis of controlled substances, trace evidence, toxicology, or other physical evidence need to plan differently. Chico State itself advises that entry-level criminalistics positions commonly require a physical or natural science major, general chemistry, and quantitative analysis. A chemistry, biochemistry, or biological sciences major paired with the Forensic Science Minor is generally better aligned with that goal than anthropology or criminal justice alone.
Chico State forensic and related programs at a glance
| Program | Credential and format | Principal forensic focus | Best aligned career direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forensic Science Minor | Undergraduate minor, on campus | Evidence methods, human identification, forensic anthropology, laboratory methods, law, ethics, and scientific communication | Supplemental preparation for evidence work, forensic anthropology, graduate study, or criminalistics when paired with a suitable science major |
| Anthropology BA | Bachelor of Arts, 40 to 42 major units, on campus | Biological anthropology, skeletal analysis, human identification, archaeology, and field methods | Remains recovery, bioarchaeology, human identification, and preparation for graduate forensic anthropology study |
| Anthropology MA | Master of Arts, 33 to 35 units, on campus | Biological anthropology, forensic case-related research, skeletal biology, thesis or project | Advanced forensic anthropology study, human identification, research, and work connected with medical examiner or government systems |
| Cybersecurity BS | Bachelor of Science, on campus | Digital forensics, cybercrime, network security, ethical hacking, and cryptography | Digital forensics, incident response, security operations, and cybercrime investigation |
| Cybersecurity Minor | Undergraduate minor, on campus | Digital and network forensics, programming, cryptography, and cybersecurity | Technical supplement for digital-evidence and cybersecurity work |
| Online Computer Science MS | Master of Science, 30 units, asynchronous online courses | General computer science with required network-forensics study | Computing professionals seeking graduate technical training that includes network investigations |
These options serve three separate career areas. Anthropology is the main route for human remains and skeletal evidence. A natural science major combined with the forensic minor is the more relevant structure for many criminalistics laboratories. Cybersecurity and computer science lead toward digital evidence rather than physical crime-scene or wet-laboratory work.
Forensic Science Minor
Chico State’s Forensic Science Minor became effective in fall 2026. It is an on-campus undergraduate minor intended to accompany a bachelor’s degree, not replace one.
The curriculum addresses evidence collection, documentation and analysis, human identification, forensic anthropology, laboratory methods, interpretation of scientific data, legal and ethical standards, report writing, and presentation of scientific findings. Relevant catalog offerings include Forensic Science Methods and Scientific Evidence, Forensic Anthropology, Human Identification, and field or laboratory methods courses.
ANTH 410, Forensic Science Methods and Scientific Evidence, follows evidence from crime-scene collection through laboratory analysis. The course also covers the law governing scientific evidence and testimony and includes hands-on applications. ANTH 415, Forensic Anthropology, examines skeletal biological parameters, postmortem interval, ethics, and anthropology’s use within the legal system. These are upper-division courses with anthropology prerequisites.
The complete 2026-27 minor course table was not available in the accessible catalog materials, so a definitive unit total and required-course sequence have not been published here. Individual courses have prerequisites. For example, ANTH 410 requires ANTH 311, while ANTH 415 requires ANTH 111 or ANTH 301.
The university recommends combining the minor with majors such as anthropology, biochemistry, biological sciences, chemistry, or criminal justice. Those combinations do not lead to identical preparation:
- Anthropology plus the minor supports human identification, skeletal analysis, archaeology, and remains recovery.
- Chemistry or biochemistry plus the minor provides more of the natural science and laboratory foundation commonly expected for criminalistics work.
- Biological sciences plus the minor can support graduate study or forensic work involving biological evidence, depending on the chemistry, molecular biology, statistics, and laboratory courses selected.
- Criminal justice plus the minor provides legal-system and investigative context but remains lighter in natural science than a chemistry or biology route.
The minor therefore works as a forensic supplement rather than a complete professional qualification. A student targeting chemistry-based crime-laboratory positions should use the bachelor’s major to build substantial chemistry, mathematics, instrumentation, and laboratory experience. A criminal justice major with the minor would not provide the same scientific preparation.
The former Forensic Science Certificate has been discontinued
Older search results may refer to Chico State’s Forensic Science Certificate. That certificate appeared in the 2025-26 catalog but was formally discontinued for 2026-27 as the new minor launched.
The former certificate required 21 to 24 units, a 3.0 program GPA, technical writing, an internship, and specified methods and legal-systems coursework. Those requirements belong to the discontinued certificate. Current materials do not establish that the new minor retained the same unit count, GPA rule, internship, or writing requirement.
The current credential should be described as an undergraduate minor. It is not a college certificate, professional certification, concentration, or standalone degree.
Anthropology BA with forensic anthropology coursework
The Anthropology BA is a 40 to 42-unit on-campus major. It covers anthropology broadly, including biological anthropology, archaeology, cultural anthropology, language and culture, theory, formal methods, and subfield coursework.
Forensic anthropology is available through courses and practical experiences rather than through a separately named major or concentration. Relevant choices include:
- Forensic Anthropology
- Human Identification
- Field Archaeology
- Advanced Field Archaeology
- Zooarchaeology
- Laboratory Methods in Archaeology
- Archaeological Site Surveying
This curriculum can build useful skills for locating and recovering remains, documenting context, examining skeletal material, and understanding biological variation. Archaeological methods are particularly relevant to clandestine-grave searches and controlled recovery. Human Identification and Forensic Anthropology move the curriculum toward skeletal assessment and legal applications.
The BA remains broad anthropology training. Cultural and linguistic anthropology are part of the degree, and students are not completing the equivalent of a chemistry-based forensic science major. That breadth is useful for anthropological analysis and graduate preparation, but it leaves a gap for careers requiring extensive organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, instrumental analysis, molecular biology, or quantitative laboratory methods.
Human Identification Laboratory opportunities can add practical depth. Undergraduate interns may receive training in skeletal analysis, reconstruction of fragmented or burned remains, identification methods, skeletal pathology, and trauma. The laboratory’s work also connects anthropology with real public-service applications. Participation in active casework is not presented as a guaranteed experience for every BA student.
This route is best aligned with bioarchaeology, human osteology, remains recovery, human identification, and eventual graduate study in biological or forensic anthropology. Students whose primary goal is drug chemistry, toxicology, trace analysis, or another laboratory criminalistics specialty need substantially more chemistry and laboratory science than the BA requires.
Anthropology MA with a biological anthropology focus
Chico State’s Anthropology MA provides the university’s most advanced route for forensic anthropology preparation. The official award is a Master of Arts in Anthropology. Biological anthropology is an identifiable focus within the degree, but the diploma is not titled forensic anthropology.
The program requires 33 to 35 units. Its structure includes a core seminar, seminars across anthropology subfields, a professionalism course, electives, a candidacy examination, and a thesis or project. At least 24 units must be in anthropology, and at least 21 units must be completed at the 600 level.
Graduate students pursuing biological anthropology can select Professionalism in Biological Anthropology and Seminar in Biological Anthropology. An approved program can be developed around skeletal biology, human variation, forensic anthropology, bioarchaeology, and related research. The required thesis or project and final oral examination add a level of independent analysis that is not part of undergraduate minor study.
The university describes opportunities for internships, Human Identification Laboratory work, and projects involving forensic case files. Verified training areas associated with the laboratory include:
- Skeletal analysis
- Biological profile development
- Trauma and pathology assessment
- Reconstruction of fragmented and burned remains
- Identification methods
- Isotope analysis
- Human-remains search and recovery
- Forensic archaeological excavation
Applicants submit two letters of recommendation, a statement of purpose, a curriculum vitae, and a writing sample. The GRE is not required. Applicants whose bachelor’s degree is outside anthropology or a related discipline can be assigned prerequisite coursework.
For the biological focus, the published fall application deadline is December 15, with no spring admission. The university lists an earlier November 15 date for international applicants.
This MA supports advanced study and work involving human identification, skeletal biology, remains recovery, forensic research, medical examiner systems, and government laboratories. It should not be framed as the final educational requirement for every professional forensic anthropologist position. Some advanced practitioner, academic, and specialist roles require doctoral preparation and extensive supervised experience.
Human Identification Laboratory
The Human Identification Laboratory is central to Chico State’s forensic anthropology identity. It provides services to law enforcement agencies, medical examiners, and attorneys, while also supporting undergraduate and graduate training.
Its services include searches for human remains, clandestine-grave location, forensic archaeological excavation, biological profile development, trauma analysis, isotope analysis, and comparative radiography. These activities place the laboratory firmly in the human-identification and medicolegal death-investigation area of forensics.
Chico State reports that the laboratory handled 638 investigations across 51 California counties between 2020 and 2025. The university also reports that more than 2,500 officers have received training through the laboratory. Its current team lists four full-time forensic anthropologists and one professor emeritus.
A new 28,600-square-foot Human Identification and Forensic Laboratories building is scheduled for completion in July 2027. According to the university, the planned facility will include expanded wet and dry laboratory space, isotope and DNA extraction laboratories, and an archaeology laboratory. It is a future facility and is not yet the current instructional setting.
The laboratory gives Chico’s anthropology programs direct connections to remains recovery and skeletal identification that many broad anthropology departments lack. Its scope is still specialized. It is not evidence of a full criminalistics curriculum covering drug analysis, toxicology, trace evidence, firearms examination, or all other crime-laboratory disciplines.
Digital forensics and cybersecurity options
Chico State also offers adjacent pathways for students interested in digital evidence. These programs belong to computer science and cybersecurity rather than anthropology or natural-science criminalistics.
Cybersecurity BS
The Cybersecurity BS launched in fall 2026 as an on-campus degree. Its subjects include network security, ethical hacking, cryptography, programming, cloud and systems security, and digital forensics. The program also uses secure laboratory work, team projects, industry tools, and a capstone focused on a cybersecurity problem.
Digital forensics analysts investigate computers, networks, accounts, logs, and other electronic sources. That work requires a different technical base from processing biological samples or identifying skeletal remains. Programming, operating systems, data structures, networks, evidence preservation, and forensic software are more directly relevant than chemistry or osteology.
Chico State identifies digital forensics analyst as one possible career outcome. Other aligned areas include incident response, cybercrime investigation, security operations, and technical security analysis.
The department describes the curriculum as designed to support possible future alignment with ABET cybersecurity expectations. The BS is not currently verified as ABET-accredited, so future alignment language should not be read as present programmatic accreditation.
Cybersecurity Minor
The Cybersecurity Minor provides a smaller on-campus route into programming, algorithms, cybersecurity, cryptography, and digital or network forensics. It can complement computer science, computer information systems, or another technically oriented major.
Chico State’s Network Forensics course covers the collection, preservation, analysis, and presentation of digital evidence from network incidents. Laboratory exercises and case studies address network captures, traffic analysis, and log analysis. Digital Forensics covers disk and file-system examination, operating-system artifacts, internet artifacts, open-source forensic tools, and construction of incident timelines.
The accessible 2026-27 materials do not provide a complete current minor course table. The current program page presents digital and network forensics within the available curriculum, but it does not establish that both courses are required of every minor student.
This minor supports technical work with digital evidence. It does not prepare a student for skeletal analysis, DNA testing, toxicology, or physical-evidence collection at crime scenes.
Online Computer Science MS
The online Computer Science MS is a 30-unit asynchronous program delivered through accelerated eight-week courses. It is a general computer science graduate degree rather than a digital-forensics specialization.
Its published curriculum includes Network Forensics alongside artificial intelligence, machine learning, databases, web technology, scalable systems, algorithms, software design, and research methods. The network-forensics component addresses the tools, technologies, and processes used to incorporate network evidence into investigations.
Applicants are reviewed holistically. The program lists expected preparation in programming, algorithms, discrete mathematics, databases, software engineering, and operating systems. Academic or professional experience can support prerequisite waivers.
This degree is most relevant to computing professionals who want broader graduate study with a defined network-forensics component. Someone seeking a program centered primarily on forensic acquisition, mobile devices, malware analysis, courtroom presentation, and digital-evidence laboratory practice would find only part of that focus here.
The current self-support price for the online MS was not established in the reviewed materials. Chico State’s standard graduate enrollment charges should not be used as a substitute for the program’s separate online pricing.
Tuition, fees, and cost planning
For fall 2026 and spring 2027, Chico State lists the following resident tuition and campus fees for enrollment above six units:
- Undergraduate: $4,674 per semester
- Graduate or postbaccalaureate: $5,529 per semester
- Nonresident supplemental tuition: $471 per unit
These are enrollment charges, not complete program prices or total cost of attendance. Housing, food, books, transportation, and personal expenses are separate.
For broader planning, Chico State estimates a nine-month cost of attendance of $28,756 for a California-resident undergraduate living off campus. The corresponding estimate for an off-campus California-resident graduate or postbaccalaureate student is $30,286. Cost-of-attendance figures are financial-aid budgets rather than amounts billed directly to every student.
The Forensic Science Minor and Cybersecurity Minor do not have separately published tuition. Their cost depends largely on whether the required courses fit within a student’s normal bachelor’s schedule or add semesters and units. The general campus rates may not cover the full self-support price of the online Computer Science MS.
Accreditation
California State University, Chico holds institutional accreditation from the WASC Senior College and University Commission. Institutional accreditation applies to the university as a whole.
None of the programs covered here is verified as accredited by the Forensic Science Education Programs Accreditation Commission. FEPAC programmatic accreditation applies to qualifying bachelor’s and master’s programs in forensic science, as well as certain natural or computer science degrees with forensic concentrations. Its scope does not turn an undergraduate minor into a FEPAC-accredited program.
FEPAC accreditation is most relevant when comparing full forensic science degrees aimed at criminalistics laboratories. It is less useful as a measure for a broad anthropology degree, a biological anthropology focus, or an adjacent cybersecurity program. In Chico State’s case, career alignment is better assessed through the student’s major, science depth, laboratory experience, forensic coursework, and intended specialty.
Choosing the right Chico State route
The Forensic Science Minor is the central undergraduate option for adding evidence methods and forensic context to another major. The companion major determines much of its professional value.
A chemistry, biochemistry, or biological sciences major with the minor provides the better structure for many laboratory criminalistics goals. Course planning should prioritize general and organic chemistry, quantitative or analytical chemistry, biology, statistics, instrumentation, and sustained laboratory work.
The Anthropology BA with forensic electives is better directed toward skeletal biology, human identification, bioarchaeology, and remains recovery. The Anthropology MA advances that route through graduate seminars, independent research, a thesis or project, an oral examination, and available Human Identification Laboratory training.
The Cybersecurity BS is the dedicated choice for digital forensics and cybercrime investigation. The Cybersecurity Minor offers a technical supplement, while the online Computer Science MS serves experienced or academically prepared computing students who want broad graduate training that includes network forensics.
Chico State’s offerings are therefore best understood as several specialized pathways rather than one all-purpose forensic science program. The right route depends on the evidence a student wants to examine: human remains, chemical or biological material, or digital systems. Readers comparing Chico with other institutions can explore additional California school profiles while keeping those career divisions clear.