Academic Project Changes Science

BECKLEY- Mountain State University faculty member, David Weaver and a group of justice studies students have been published for their work over the past few years to improve visibility of fingerprints. The group discovered that an increase in sensitivity for fingerprint recovery on non-porous evidence such as glass, metals or plastic. The results of their findings can be found in the National Reference Center for the National Institute of Justice (NIJ).

In October 2006, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) awarded Mountain State University’s Forensic Division of Justice Studies with funding to conduct research to enhance latent-print visualization.

The grant funded research began in January of 2007, with numerous students participating in the process. The goal was to make the superglue fuming process simpler and faster for any officer or crime-scene technician in the field. The group found a successful solution that has resulted in several patents being filed regarding their research.

MSU faculty member and certified latent print examiner, David Weaver served as project manager. Weave, along with students Mason Hines, Alissa Doss, Andrea Shockey and Sara Farmer served as contributing authors in the publication. Other contributing authors include MSU faculty members Gyaneswor Pokharel and Andrew Wheeler.

The project director, (Weaver) is pleased with their findings and the changes it has brought about in the forensic science industry as well as the opportunities it gave the MSU students.

“The students who participated have experienced what it is really like to conceptually develop, conduct and struggle with a real research project in materials science and the fingerprint field. The experience most likely will be that in the future these students will be confident enough to take on these type projects on their own.”, says Weaver.

Information on MSU's Forensic Investigation Program