FORT WORTH - Six years ago, when Patricia Eddings, a senior trace analyst for the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office, began teaching introduction to forensic science at the University of Texas at Arlington, 25 students enrolled.

Today, there's a waiting list for the class, which can accommodate 60 students.

Interest in the morbid field of forensic science has taken off, fueled in part by TV shows and mystery novels. A soon to be released study from Sallie Mae, one of the leading educational lenders, reports a nationwide increase in the number of college students clamoring to study the field, which uses such evidence as DNA, blood spatters, hair and dental evidence to investigate criminal cases.

Locally, the medical examiner's office regularly fields phone calls from high school students seeking to view autopsies.

Baylor University in Waco began a forensic science major program in 1999 that was designed specifically for pre-med students. Today, about 25 percent of those enrolled are deciding to pursue careers in forensic science rather than medicine, said Susan Wallace, an associate professor of anthropology who coordinates the program.

"The interest has always smoldered among the nerdy people like me that watch the Discovery Channel and Court TV," said Dr. Marc Krouse, assistant medical examiner. "It shows where the application of science principles have aided solving a crime. People love to see good winning out."

Crime novelist Patricia Cornwell has made millions from her bestselling Kay Scarpetta mystery series about an ace medical examiner who unravels homicides.

"Science, like the dead, can speak to you if you understand what it's saying to you," Cornwell said. "It's good people are developing more awareness."

Legions of fans tune in weekly to CBS for both versions of its CSI: Crime Scene Investigation series, which routinely lands in the Nielsen rating's top 20 prime-time shows.

Viewers watch the fictional medical examiners reconstruct a person's outward appearance using skeletal remains or search for possible DNA matches between crime evidence and convicted offenders by using the national Combined DNA Index System.

"Today cases can be solved that weren't solved even 15 years ago," said Johnny Heard, 64, of Bedford, a fan of the CSI shows. "I worked in law enforcement at a prison. Now those people that say they're innocent may be. CSI has just really focused in on what we can now do with just a little piece of blood."

But Eddings warns her students to not confuse fact with fiction.

"I'm not a CSI advocate," she said. "That's not reality. There's no one person that does crime scenes and goes into the lab and does analytical work. I've been in forensics for almost 30 years. There's no way one person wears all of those hats. Everyone has an area of expertise."

UTA began a biology degree program that features a concentration in forensic science in the fall of 2001. Fifty students are enrolled in the program.

"For a new program, that's pretty keen," said Jane Pugh, the undergraduate academic adviser for the biology department. "Everybody loves a mystery."

The Sallie Mae study surveyed 300 colleges and universities about majors that saw an increase in student interest after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Of the 17 percent of schools that reported an increase in student interest, 60 percent of those majors were in the criminal-justice field.

"If you look at all the increased activity around Sept. 11, you saw a lot of criminal-justice-type activities going on," said Lana Low, a senior executive with Noel-Levitz, the division of Sallie Mae that conducted the study. "We think it's tied more to an opportunity for careers out there."

At Baylor, Wallace constructs crime scenes for her students by using dead pigs that were first used in Texas A&M University heart experiments. The animals are made to resemble murder victims, as students discover them hung from trees with their throats slashed, or buried.

University officials were initially concerned that interest in the major would fade, Wallace said. However, Wallace echoed Low when she said she believes that the 9-11 terrorist attacks and the push for homeland security is captivating younger generations.

"We're getting so many e-mails from seventh- up to 12th-graders," Wallace said. "They're saying, 'This is what I always wanted to do my whole life. What do I need to take?' "

Lori Lane, a science instructor for the Oakridge School in Arlington, incorporates forensic science in the curriculum for her middle school biology classes. She also teaches a crime scene course during the school's summer enrichment session.

"It helps with their critical thinking skills and problem solving," Lane said. "Forensic science is detective work. Any time a student is challenged and pushed 100 percent, they can accomplish anything."