As printed in The Daily Ardmoreite, July 27, 2007.

EDMOND – Instruments and furnishings for a new Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation forensic testing facility here will be funded by The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation of Ardmore.

Donna Windel, Noble's grant program director, announced a $390,000 foundation allocation to purchase instruments for forensic testing, plus office and classroom furnishings earlier this week while touring the agency's new Forensic Science Center under construction near the University of Central Oklahoma campus.

Crime lab director Charlie Curtis conducted the tour. The new facility will feature laboratory training areas equipped with instrumentation that will be used by university students interested in the forensic science field, as well as OSBI agents.

OSBI spokesperson Jessica Brown said funded items also will support an existing partnership between the OSBI and UCO.

For more than 20 years, the OSBI has supported the university's forensic science program by accepting practicum students and hiring many of its well prepared, highly qualified graduates.

Agency officials have targeted November as a move-in date.

This article appeared in The Daily Ardmoreite, www.ardmoreite.com, on July 27, 2007.