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CRESSON -- A new lab at Mount Aloysius College will immerse criminology students into the "haunting realities" of crime scenes, giving them a potential advantage over other job seekers in Criminal Justice careers, according to several college officials and alumni.
Located in the campus's Academic Hall building, the lab is designed like an apartment and can be modified to create any staged scenario, according to Joseph Bobak, director of the college's criminology program.
During an open house Thursday, the lab featured several stations using manikins to depict different types of crime scenes, such as gunshot wounds and a decomposing body.
"Now that we have this crime scene lab, we can now immerse our students into a crime scene that is almost identical to what they would see in an actual real-life scene," Bobak said, adding the lab allows students to practice the mechanics of investigating crime scenes and collecting evidence while strengthening their critical thinking and deductive reasoning abilities.
Adam Pernelli, a police sergeant in the city of Pittsburgh's third zone who graduated from Mount Aloysius in 2015, said it's "definitely eye-opening" to witness crime scenes for the first time. The lab will mentally prepare students for their future careers, he said.
In his career, Pernelli was one of the officers who responded to an antisemitic terrorist attack in 2018 at the Tree of Life synagogue in the city's Squirrel Hill neighborhood. The first couple of crime scenes Pernelli responded to as an officer were "very taxing," he said, adding he's seen "a lot of things that I hope no one ever sees again."
Joe Hribar, Cambria County's chief deputy coroner, said he had "a good foundation" of how to investigate crime scenes after graduating from Mount Aloysius in 2012. When he was a student, the college did not have the hands-on opportunities that current students will benefit from in the lab, he said.
"To be able to provide students now with a simulated crime room to just go about and say this is what you're getting called to at two in the morning and solve it ... is a huge advantage to these students," Hribar said.
In a homicide scenario, investigators only have one chance to process the scene before evidence is disturbed, he said.
"With that one chance, you've got to be able to do it right," Hribar said. "You don't want to make any mistakes or disturb anything that could be crucial in the case."
New certificate launched
The college officially launched a new four-course forensic investigative genetic genealogy certificate Thursday.
Hribar, an adjunct instructor for the criminology program, said Mount Aloysius is one of only three universities in the nation to offer the certificate, noting the University of New Haven and the Ramapo College of New Jersey offer similar certificates.
"This is a new and rapidly growing tool for law enforcement and death investigators to use," Hribar said, adding FIGG allows investigators to analyze DNA evidence and link it back to a suspect or unidentified person.
Forensic investigative genetic genealogy gained popularity in 2016 when law enforcement used it to identify and arrest "the Golden State Killer" Joseph James DeAngelo, Hribar said. "That was the first case that really snowballed the growth of FIGG as a program," he said.
Hribar said he recently obtained his FIGG certification and is eager to spread his knowledge with the students "and hopefully raise up the next generation of FIGG practitioners going out into the field."
Alyscha Cutri, a junior criminology major with a sociology minor, plans to obtain the forensic investigation and FIGG certificates upon graduation. She aspires to become a forensic investigator.
Curti said she's always been interested in forensics and wants to pursue the FIGG certificate because it's new to the forensic field.
"I think it's really cool how we can find a suspect from working there," she said.
Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.