My name is Brittany Eick (formerly Merrell) and I currently reside and work in Rochester, NY. I graduated from WVU in 2018 with a Bachelor of Science in Forensic and Investigative Science. I was in the Examiner Track and minored in Psychology. While at WVU I was the Committee Chair for the Forensic Science Club, played on the club volleyball team, was a member of several honor societies and worked at Summit Café. I was always interested in forensic science and that never wavered as I grew and even after learning that it wouldn’t be quite like the CSI TV shows. I chose WVU because they have one of the best Forensic programs in the country, it was out of NY state, and provided a decent amount of scholarships and grants. My most memorable moments in WVU were the 10pm and 3am crime scenes. As stressful as they were at the time, looking back I realized how fun, challenging, and rewarding they were. WVU really (over) prepares you for what you will face in the real world.
After graduation it wasn’t easy getting into the forensics field because in Western NY, there aren’t many opportunities to be a civilian crime scene technician. So, I attempted with several different police agency to get accepted into an Academy, but nothing worked out. Finally, post-COVID, a job opening showed up at the Monroe County Crime Laboratory for a Forensic Laboratory Assistant. This is where I had previously interned so I had connections already and was hired in February 2022. I was recently promoted to the Forensic Case Coordinator position in May 2024. Currently my day-to-day tasks include working in evidence intake, working with section supervisors to maintain workflow efficiency, administratively closing inactive cases, and other quality assurance tasks. The majority of my work is administrative and currently I do not analyze evidence. I have been trained though in the various sections of the lab to help create reagents, to preform QA/QC checks, and I was also trained to acquire and correlate cartridge cases in NIBIN.
My degree helped prepare me for my current position by providing general education in lab skills and report writing, maintaining chain of custody, quality assurance, and basic topics on evidence analysis i.e. screening biological evidence, DNA analysis, cartridge case comparison, and trace analysis. I was also able to bring an awareness of how certain lab equipment works like comparison microscopes, GC/MS, and many more. I am always looking to advance in my career and try to take as many trainings as I can through the lab because I don’t have to pay anything! I also recently applied in December 2024 for a firearms analyst position with Niagara County, NY so fingers crossed!
My advice for students is to just keep chugging along. You won’t know what you’ll miss after you graduate whether it is endless pipetting, having fingerprint powder on everything you own, and getting that 3am wake-up call for a crime scene. WVU really pushes you and they throw a lot your way to learn and comprehend, but I promise it is for your benefit. When you get to the “real world” you’ll realize that the majority of what you did in college is harder than what you will face on the job. For now, work hard, play hard, and the rest will come easy!