Faculty & Staff
The Forensic and Investigative Science (FIS) program has amassed a faculty with over 50 years of combined working experience in forensic laboratories. Unlike other programs, many of our faculty are full-time instructors, lecturers, and professors rather than part-time adjunct instructors.
Teaching WVU students is our only and our most important job. Our students learn about the real world of forensic science from those who have done casework, who have testified, and who have processed crime scenes.
Administration
Dr. Keith B. Morris
Director and Associate Professor
Ming Hsieh Distinguished Professor
Dr. Morris joined WVU as forensic projects manager in 2004 before becoming director of the FIS program in April of 2007. Dr. Morris is an internationally known forensic chemist and laboratory manager who previously oversaw the operations of all forensic laboratories in South Africa. He became assistant director in 2006. Dr. Morris teaches Crime Scene Investigation 1, Advanced Fingerprints, Firearms Examination, and Forensic Informatics as well as lectures on gunshot residue and scanning electron microscopy.
Program Faculty
Patrick Buzzini, PhD
Teaching Assistant Professor
Patrick Buzzini joined the Forensic & Investigative Science Program at West Virginia University in June 2007, where he teaches several undergraduate and graduate courses. He graduated from the Forensic Science Institute of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2001, where he also completed his PhD. His education covers a wide variety of evidence types; he has several years of experience in research, teaching and casework, mainly in the field of trace evidence.
Tina Moroose
Teaching Assistant Professor
Tina Moroose received her MS in forensic and investigative science from Marshall University. Moroose research centers on refining methods for capturing trace human epithelial cells for use in scent evidence collection. Recent improved techniques have catapulted the use of the scent evidence to the forefront of major criminal investigations.
Martin Overly
Teaching Instructor
Martin Overly received his MS degree in Forensic Science from Southern Utah University. He began with the Forensic & Investigative Sciences department in September 2011. At present, he teaches undergraduate forensic courses and is also the program’s Internship Coordinator.
Ryan Postlethwait
Senior Lecturer
Kenneth Bauer
Instructor
Kenneth Bauer, a retired forensic photographer teaches the Forensic Photography course. Bauer worked for 36 years in Washington, DC as a forensic photographer: eighteen years with the FBI and eighteen with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Crime Lab. Bauer brings his extensive experience in the photographic preservation of fingerprints, documents, physical evidence, and crime scenes with him into the classroom to help his students learn and truly understand the techniques of forensic photography. During his career, he also taught several courses on the Techniques of Forensic Photography to law enforcement personnel.
Ken is a past president of the Association of Professional Investigative Photographers (APIP) and is currently a member of the International Association of Identification.
Jacqueline Speir
Assistant Professor
PhD- Rochester Institute of Technology, 2010, MS- John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 2004, BS- McGill University, 1999.
Previous Position: Assistant Professor, Cedar Crest College
Specialty: Pattern Recognition, Imaging Science, and Chemometrics
Glen Jackson
Associate Professor
PhD- West Virginia University, 2002, MS- Ohio University, 1998, BS- University of Wales, 1998.
Previous Position: Director, BS for Chem Program Ohio University.
Specialty: Forensic Applications of Mass Spectrometry.
Hon. Russell M. Clawges
Circuit Court Judge of the 17th Judicial Circuit
West Virginia
The Hon. Russell M. Clawges, Jr., is a Circuit Court Judge of the 17th Judicial Circuit. He was appointed Circuit Judge on January 10, 1997, elected to complete the unexpired term in November, 1998 and re-elected to a full term in November, 2000. Prior to serving on the bench, he was a partner in the Morgantown law firm of Furbee, Amos, Webb & Critchfield and served as an Adjunct Lecturer in Trial Advocacy at the West Virginia University College of Law. Judge Clawges received his BA in mathematics in 1971 and his JD (Order of the Coif) in 1974 from West Virginia University. Judge Clawges currently teaches Court Testimony.
William Wilmoth
Partner
Steptoe & Johnson PLLC
Mr. William D. Wilmoth, teaches the Law and Evidence course, and is a partner in the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson. His practice concentrates on complex civil litigation. He is named in the 2003-2004 edition of the book The Best Lawyers in America; and is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. From July 4, 1993 until March 1, 1999, he was United States Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia, having been nominated by President Clinton and confirmed by the United States Senate. He was an Assistant United States Attorney from 1977 to 1980. He was a member of Attorney General Janet Reno’s Advisory Committee of United States Attorneys, and chaired the Department of Justice’s Committee on Civil and Financial Litigation. He was also a member of the Committee on White Collar Crime and the Committee on Health Care Fraud.
Affiliate Faculty
Suzanne Bell PhD
Assistant Professor
C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry
Suzanne Bell received her BS in chemistry and police science from Northern Arizona University and an MS in forensic science at the University of New Haven. She worked as a forensic and analytical chemist for the New Mexico State Police and for the Los Alamos National Laboratory before returning to university to obtain a PhD in chemistry from New Mexico State University. She was a tenured full professor at Eastern Washington University for ten years before joining the faculty of WVU in the Bennett Department of Chemistry in 2003. Working with the Washington State Patrol, she launched a forensic chemistry program at EWU.
Clifton Bishop PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Biology
Cliff Bishop received his doctoral degree from the University of Virginia. His research has developed new techniques to estimate the age of biological samples. Developments in DNA technology allow for the identification of individuals using DNA extracted from blood, saliva, or fingerprints. This technique may allow an estimate of time when the biological material was deposited and may temporally establish crime scenes. Our technique compares the rate of decay of two different RNAs over time using Real-time Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). This approach is similar to that used in Carbon-14 dating in archeology where the ratio of radioactive Carbon-14 to non-radioactive Carbon is used to estimate the age of much older items. This method will provide a new tool to the forensic community to more accurately assess collected evidence.
Administrative and Support Staff
Casper Venter
Director of Forensic Facilities
Martin Overly
Internship Coordinator
Lori Britton
Academic Advisor