Watching law and order television shows with his mom sparked Kaname Sawaki’s interest in investigating crimes.
Because most Japanese universities don’t offer forensic biology programs, Kaname, who is from Kyoto, Japan, enrolled at ONU as an international student.
“Since I was little, I wanted to go outside of my country and learn what I couldn’t learn in Japan,” he said. “ONU was a good college for me because ONU students were friendly and the professors supported me. I played sports and I studied a lot, which was satisfying.”
Kaname played on the intramural men’s volleyball team and the Black Rose rugby team. He was also involved in ONU’s chapter of the Association of Future Forensic Professionals (AFFP), which afforded him the opportunity to travel to a professional conference in Las Vegas.
“It was my best experience at ONU,” he said. “It was really wonderful to see another part of the United States that is so huge and bright!”
While at ONU, Kaname was also a teaching assistant in ONU’s forensic biology lab, where he gained hands-on experience and built strong relationships with Dr. Harold Schueler, associate professor of forensic biology, and Dr. Dennis De Luca, professor of biological sciences.
“These professors supported us a lot and worked really hard for us,” said Kaname.
He added that forensic science students needed to work equally as hard to succeed academically.
“Forensics is a wonderful field of study, but not easy. But don’t worry, science always shows the answer and how to get there. If you believe in science, it is going to believe in you.”