As West Virginia University's biometrics and forensic science program's relationship grows with the FBI, it's drawing more attention nationwide.
Biometrics is the development of statistical and mathematical methods applicable to data analysis programs in the biological sciences.
The partnership with the FBI has drawn nearly $1 million in grants for further development of evidence collection technologies and interactive training tools for personnel, according to a press release.
"The program benefits the federal agencies in recruiting students who have a biometrical base and knowledge," said Arun Ross, associate professor in the Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.
The biometrics and forensic science program is a Lane Program of the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.
On average, students in the program take 17 credit hours per semester, according to its Web site, with classes ranging from statistics to computer system concepts to bioengineering.
"I really like to work with highly motivated students," Ross said.
Biometrics generally refers to methods of recognizing humans based upon one or more physical or behavioral traits.
Some common uses are analyzing fingertip patterns, measuring financial characteristics, the shape of the hand, iris scan, retinal scan and analyzing genetic makeup. It is also used to analyze vocal behavior, signature dynamics and measuring the time spacing of typed words.
WVU's research in biometrics became well known after the opening of the National Science Foundation Center for Identification Technology Research, an internationally recognized biometric research asset that enabled the partnership between the FBI and the University.
A typical day in the life of a biometrics student involves mostly lab work.
"Collecting data, developing and writing codes, and preparing databases are some of the things that biometrics students do," said Aglica Gyaourova, a third-year Ph.D. student.
She said the best thing about the program was the amount and quality of resources available. Her research is on fast database retrieval.
"On completing my education, ideally I would like to work full time as a researcher at the University," said Brian DeCann, a first-year Ph.D. student.
He is working on soft biometrics, or extracting information from a video sequence. His focus is on a person's gait, or how they move their limbs.
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