The new Ohio Attorney General spent his first day on the job indulging his inner geek.
David Yost helped open the Center for the Future of Forensic Science at Bowling Green State University on
Tuesday.
“The reason I’m here today — other than the fact that this is just really cool — is on my first day in
office of working, I wanted to come here to affirm the partnership between the State of Ohio, the Office
of the Attorney General and BGSU,” said Yost. “I’m a little bit geeky. I really like the science and the
details that the BCI does.
“When graduates leave this program, they are not going to have a learning curve on a different set of
equipment. … They are going to move into a familiar environment with a familiar set of tools,” he said.

BGSU President Rodney Rogers praised the partnership that led to the center.
“This would not have been possible without the public-private partnership,” he said. “We’re building
toward a national leadership position in forensic science and it’s because we have the state crime lab
right across the street there and in this space we have the student teaching space that replicates that
real world lab.”
Randy Gardner, former Ohio senator from Bowling Green and the newly appointed chancellor of the Ohio
Department of Higher Education, also spoke. Gardner was considered a key hand in securing the public
funds when now-Gov. Mike DeWine, the former Ohio attorney general, formulated the combined Bureau of
Criminal Investigation partnership with BGSU and the creation of the center.
“Gov. DeWine actually said last Thursday, that this forensics program partnership with the BCI crime lab,
that kind of partnership, that kind of enhancing partnership with students, is an example of what we
should try to do around the state,” Gardner said.
Jon Sprague, the center’s director, said funding came from a range of sources including grants, donations
and funds from the BCI.
Each of the educators giving a tour of the new facility pointed out the partnership with the BCI. They
said BGSU is leading the nation in creating practicing forensic scientists, forensic science
technicians, crime scene investigators and other law enforcement professionals.
BCI agents Jim Ciotti and Gary Wilgus were on hand to show their support, both of whom had been involved
in research combining the two facilities.
“We oversee all investigative units statewide,” Ciotti said. “We’ve worked with the center in the past.
We actually just completed a study with drones. The idea behind that was to find clandestine graves.”

Throughout the facility, students demonstrated some of the new skills they had learned.
Natalie Wise, a junior majoring in forensic science, demonstrated an alternate light source tool.