TMC Technologies, a Fairmont information technology services company, on Thursday (March 10) donated a state-of-the-art biometric security reader, software and computer to West Virginia Universitys Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

Biometrics is the use of unique identifying characteristics such as fingerprints, retina and voice scans to distinguish individuals from one another. Both TMC and WVU are among the leaders in this field of research.

TMCs engineers developed the equipment and software to help demonstrate the new and emerging biometric technology, TMC President Wade Linger said.Our hope is that students pursuing a degree in biometrics systems at WVU s College of Engineering and Mineral Resources can build on our research and that our donation will enhance their learning environment.

The donation, worth about $5,000, is made up of several pieces of equipment and software, including a computer, biometric reader, VeriFinger SDK operating system, door, monitor and other computer peripherals.

TMC has been our biggest champion of biometric education at WVU s Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, WVU CEMR Dean Eugene V. Cilento said.In 2002, TMC created WVU s first-ever biometric scholarship. Today, theyre pledging real intellectual property that our students can use in their biometric research and development. We are sincerely grateful.

TMC pledged $50,000 to create the first biometrics scholarship. The gift, made through the WVU Foundation Inc., created an endowment known as the TMC Technologies Scholarship. The endowment provides undergraduate scholarships each year to a student who is a West Virginia native and enrolled in the biometric systems program. The first recipient of the scholarship was Amie Marie King of Scott Depot.

Russ Nix, TMC software engineer and director of special projects, developed and built the biometric donation.

For more information about TMC Technologies, visitwww.tmctechnologies.comor contact John Dahlia, 304-368-1862 ext. 14, or 304-290-0267 (cell).