| Training & Educational Services
The TRDC Training Services Division provides equipment and staff resources to conduct a number of defined and customer-directed training programs for both managers and technicians as required by various contracts and clients.
NBSP conducted interviews and inquiries in the biometric community to determine what practitioners in the field thought was most needed in training. Based on our findings, we initiated course and curriculum development to fill identified gaps in available biometric training. The result was a plan to construct three (3) new biometric training courses:
- A 4-Hour general orientation to biometric technology and applications ;
- A 3 day Biometric Operations Training course for operators and managers, practitioners and technicians ;
- An intensive technical training program for biometric technicians/engineers.
In addition to developing the content and materials for each course described above, the Training Services Division is pursuing the certification of each course so that CEU credits may be awarded at the completion of each program. Additional offerings from the TRDC Training Services Division include:
- Train-the-trainer programs
- Curriculum development for higher educational entities
- Consultant services for various client training programs
Training Services is also responsible for establishing biometric practitioner and technician certification programs.
Educational Services
For biometrics to flourish our institutions of higher learning need to become more aggressive in developing biometric curricula. To date West Virginia University is the only University in the United States to offer an undergraduate degree in biometrics. To help expand the teaching of biometrics at U.S. universities NBSP helped establish the foundation for educational Biometric Centers of Excellence, whose objective is to enable universities to design and implement biometric study programs that are consistent with both government and industry needs. In mid 2005 NBSP hosted and chaired a "Biometric Education Working Group" [BEWG], which was attended by the University of Kentucky, James Madison University, Michigan State University, and West Virginia University along with representatives from government and industry. The primary objective of the BEWG was to propose a draft Biometric Curriculum to pave the way for certifying schools as Programs of Excellence in Biometrics. |
