Dignitaries, academics, law enforcement officials and other civic leaders gathered Wednesday on a lawn in Bowling Green State University to break ground for a state-of-the-art forensic lab.
The 30,000-square-feet Bureau of Criminal Investigation lab is scheduled to open in September, 2014, and will replace a lab now in rental space elsewhere in Bowling Green. Employment will be up slightly at the new facility, to about 40, according to Thomas Stickrath, superintendent of Ohio BCI.
Attorney General Mike DeWine praised the speed with which the $11.9 million project has moved, both through the state and university bureaucracies.
BGSU President Mary Ellen Mazey said it was just years ago that she first spoke with DeWine about the possibility of locating the lab on campus.
The lab BCI lab provides on-site laboratory services and on-site investigative services.
The university has moved ahead to create three new undergraduate majors, starting this fall, in forensic science, with a couple more in the wings. Also a masters degree in forensic science is expected to be offered starting in fall, 2014 when the lab is expected to open.
That program, Provost Rodney Rogers, will be for both full- and part-time students to accommodate the needs of professionals already working in the field.
He said he expects as 300 to 400 students to be enrolled in the undergraduate programs, and about 60 in the graduate program.
DeWine said the building will be designed to allow visitor to view the activities without disrupting the work. This should help expose young people to science and the scientific professions. Bowling Green is an ideal spot because of its central location within the 22-county area it serves, he noted.
It is one of three BCI labs in the state.
And DeWine says he expects it will set the standard for forensic labs throughout the nation.
“Our core mission is to protect Ohio families,” DeWine said. The lab does that by “funding the bad guys, and in some instances, who didn’t do it.”
The new facility, the attorney general said, “makes Ohioans safer.”
The 30,000-square-feet Bureau of Criminal Investigation lab is scheduled to open in September, 2014, and will replace a lab now in rental space elsewhere in Bowling Green. Employment will be up slightly at the new facility, to about 40, according to Thomas Stickrath, superintendent of Ohio BCI.
Attorney General Mike DeWine praised the speed with which the $11.9 million project has moved, both through the state and university bureaucracies.
BGSU President Mary Ellen Mazey said it was just years ago that she first spoke with DeWine about the possibility of locating the lab on campus.
The lab BCI lab provides on-site laboratory services and on-site investigative services.
The university has moved ahead to create three new undergraduate majors, starting this fall, in forensic science, with a couple more in the wings. Also a masters degree in forensic science is expected to be offered starting in fall, 2014 when the lab is expected to open.
That program, Provost Rodney Rogers, will be for both full- and part-time students to accommodate the needs of professionals already working in the field.
He said he expects as 300 to 400 students to be enrolled in the undergraduate programs, and about 60 in the graduate program.
DeWine said the building will be designed to allow visitor to view the activities without disrupting the work. This should help expose young people to science and the scientific professions. Bowling Green is an ideal spot because of its central location within the 22-county area it serves, he noted.
It is one of three BCI labs in the state.
And DeWine says he expects it will set the standard for forensic labs throughout the nation.
“Our core mission is to protect Ohio families,” DeWine said. The lab does that by “funding the bad guys, and in some instances, who didn’t do it.”
The new facility, the attorney general said, “makes Ohioans safer.”