West Virginia Universitys Michael Bell chuckled a bit as he pulled up the ballistic database in an Oglebay Hall computer lab.

Immediately, the monitor in Room 331 pulsed with the digital aftermath of gun violence: Lining up one by one were sharp, high-resolution images of spent bullets, bullet holes and shell casings. It was enough of an arsenal to fill aScarfacesequel, and it was catalogued and collatedbullet to gun, gun to bullet, trajectory to trajectory.

Just a few short years ago, detectives and ballistics examiners doing that kind of work would have logged lots of overtime to complete the project.

But this day, it was all there in mere seconds for Bell, a former New Mexico State Police crime scene analyst who now instructs future sleuths in WVU s Forensic and Investigative Sciences Program.

If youre going to work with the big guys,he said,youre going to need the big toys.

The forensic program here now has the big toys, and the big building, to go with its even bigger reputation. In 10 years at WVU , the program has grown to attract some 500 majors from across 35 states and five countries.

Its been featured in media outlets from The Chronicle of Higher Education toTrue Hollywood Storieson cable televisions E! Entertainment Network.

And the programs new home is Oglebay Hall, a stately, landmark building on the Downtown Campus that recently underwent a $23.5 million makeover just for its new tenant.

Then there are thetoyslike the ballistics database employed by law agencies worldwide to go along with a complete line of professional Nikon cameras the company provided for free. Other partnership opportunities are in the works, Bell said.

A lot of it is marketing on the part of the companies,he said,but I do need to note that they dont just sign on with anybody. These are top-notch corporations, and theyre aligning themselves with us because were top-notch, too.

WVU s forensic graduates over the years have quickly landed in key positions in police departments, crime labs and federal entities all across the country, Bell said. Having hands-on access to the latest technology, he said, just plain helps.

The idea, he said, is to yank that traditional, new job learning curve into a straight linefrom being hired one day and doing the job like a veteran investigator the next.

If a piece of diagnostic equipment is being in the field or in the crime lab, you can bet weve got it,he said.It used to be that youd see a piece of equipment and youd say, �€~Well, I saw it in a catalogue or a textbook, and this will be my first time actually working with it.Well, our graduates have already spent the past four or five semesters working with it, and they might know it better than some of the veteran investigators who have been on the job for years and years.

Dr. Keith Morris, the programs interim director who once headed South Africas national crime lab system, agrees.

Theres the newly outfitted Oglebay Hall andacross town on the Evansdale Campusa learning complex of three crime scene houses and a forensic garage, he said.

Theres a faculty of proven law enforcement professionals, several with international backgrounds including Morris, who once headed South Africas national crime lab system.

There are students who get past initial preconceivedCSITV notions to dig into a rigorous program that rivals any premedicine curriculum.

And there are more corporate deals in the works, Morris said. The program is getting ready to contract with a Connecticut shoemaker since footprints figure into any forensic investigation.

Right now, theres no place Id rather be than right here,Morris said.Every day is like Christmas morning, you know?