The J. Edgar Hoover Foundation has awarded a scholarship to West Virginia University to establish The J. Edgar Hoover Foundation Leadership Scholarship for students enrolled in the Department of Forensic and Investigative Science in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. This first-of-its-kind philanthropic gift from the Hoover Foundation will provide scholarships for four qualified students in the 2016-2017 academic year.
Three WVU undergraduates have been selected for summer research fellowships with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Sydney Brooks, a double major in FIS and chemistry, is among this elite group.
Publication is one of the most important aspects of research, sharing the
knowledge found by your institution. However, forensic chemistry researchers
have had difficulty publishing due to the technical nature of their work.
Glen P. Jackson, Ming Hsieh Distinguished Professor of Forensic and Investigative
Science at
West Virginia University, has changed that.
The WVU Forensic and Investigative Science Club held officer elections on Wednesday April 6, 2016. A great turnout of our members elected the following students for the upcoming 2016-2017 year.
Forensic hair analysis has developed a bad reputation. The technique has relied on traits such as color, thickness, and curvature to link a suspect to a crime scene. But an ongoing reanalysis of old cases by the U.S. Justice Department found that analysts have often overstated their case in the courtroom; several people convicted based on a hair sample were later found to be innocent.
The new Ph.D. program was approved last month and will launch in the fall. At that time, WVU will become the nation’s first university to offer undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees in forensic science.
The WVU Department of Forensic and Investigative Science has taken the lead in forensic
science education once again by developing a new Ph.D. program which was approved
last week by the West Virginia University Board of Governors.
Every few months, professors in the department teach workshops for undergraduate
forensic and investigative science students who are not yet in the program. These
workshops give them an inside look into crime scene investigation and the
field of forensic science. This past month, Robert O’Brien taught the basics of
bullet trajectory and distance determination.
On Wednesday, November 4, twenty-two (22) seniors in the Crime Scene II course
investigated a mock crime from 11 pm - 2 am. This scene modeled a police
involved shooting at the crime scene training complex on the Evansdale campus.
The road behind the complex was blocked off to all traffic for the night to simulate
a real crime scene. University Police also added an aura of realism by
establishing a perimeter around the crime scene and providing a cruiser with
lights activated during the training exercise.
