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When Jennifer Burg was 7, she sat in front of the TV with her parents every week, transfixed by "The New Detectives" on the Discovery Channel.

As she watched the fictional forensic detectives analyze crime scenes, she told herself she'd do that for a living too.

"It was like going on a mystery hunt," she recalled.

Then, of course, came "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," the hit show that created a new vigor for the behind-the-scenes part of police work. Burg also has shadowed Border Patrol agents who deal with forensics.

But the recent Ironwood Ridge High School graduate, now 18, never learned the true intricacies of the business.

Until now.

This week she's one of 15 students in the second annual Science Detectives Summer Camp, a 12-day program that gives science-oriented high schoolers a chance to use science and math to solve homicide cases.

The program is hosted by the University of Arizona, with support from the Tucson Police Department.

The settings the students encounter aren't much like those on the hit TV shows. The lighting isn't very sexy in the UA labs where the experiments are conducted, and the repartee is minimal. Also, the students seem to spend more time waiting for results than processing them.

But no one is discouraged. After viewing a mock crime scene on the second day of the camp Wednesday, students talked of the joy of listening to real detectives and handling "evidence."

Also this week, the students used chemistry to extract evidence that can't be seen with the human eye or obtained through normal procedures.

At one station, students used Super Glue and intense heat to lift fingerprints from aluminum foil. Elsewhere in the room, drops of acid helped identify the nitrates in bullet residue.

"This stuff fascinates me," said Brooke Jensen, a 20-year-old UA junior who is serving as a mentor. Jensen is majoring in optometry, but she said the camp brings her back to her first love, forensics, which she discovered in high school.

Burg said the science aspect of the career comes easily.

"When I got into high school, I was afraid that I wouldn't understand anything," she said. "But I pretty much breeze through it now."

With more students interested in studying forensics in high school, nine teachers have signed up for the program, three more than last year. Program coordinator Al Agellon said that was an important goal.

"We want to educate the teachers, since they're in direct contact with the students who are interested in forensics," he said. "Now they will be able to give the proper (career) advice."

Five sections of the camp give students a diverse look at aspects of crime solving that don't always show up on TV or in the media. For example, students can learn how bugs that feed on corpses can help determine the time of death.

Viewing all aspects of the job may get the students more excited about making forensics a career, those involved say.

The fact that 12 of the students are girls mirrors the female-heavy work force in forensics and rebuts the idea that girls aren't interested in science.

At the Police Department's crime laboratory, 63 percent of the employees are women, and many job applicants are too, director Susan Shankles said.

"It's just very appealing to women who go into science," said Shankles, who added that the field was dominated by men two decades ago. "I think 'CSI' had something to do with that."

Whether it's a TV show or a natural affinity for science, many students were certain they'll pursue forensics when they graduate from college.

"They know what they want," Jensen said. "And they're going after it."