Leahy Center for Digital Investigation Dedicated

US Sen. Patrick Leahy and his wife, talk with Champlain College senior Meghan Percy
at the dedication ceremony of the new Patrick Leahy Center for Digital Investigation. 

New Educational Forensic Lab Offers

Champlain College Students Real-life Experience

Burlington, VT – A new center of excellence at Champlain College, offering students a fully-equipped, state-of-the-art facility in which to learn and practice digital forensics investigation techniques, will be named in honor of U.S. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, according to Champlain College President David F. Finney.

The Patrick Leahy Center for Digital Investigation (LCDI) provides a high-tech educational setting and a fully equipped, secure digital forensics lab to bring professional investigators and law enforcement officers together with Champlain’s computer and digital forensics students to work on gathering digital evidence from computer hard drives, smartphones and other digital media storage devices.

“Thanks to your long-standing support, the Leahy Center for Digital Investigation is now fully functional on the third floor of our new Miller Center at Lakeside Campus,” Finney said at the dedication ceremony of the LCDI, adding, “We are poised to build on our technology degree programs and the past successes of the digital forensics center to improve the functioning of the criminal justice system in Vermont.”

The core operating goal of the LCDI, Finney noted, is to give Champlain students the opportunity to work on real-world projects in a supervised environment – enhancing their education and increasing the digital forensic capacity of Vermont law enforcement.

Leahy secured the three-year, $500,000 US Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) grant in 2010 to provide educational and technical support to Vermont law enforcement agencies related to critical digital forensics issues and a $650,000 grant in 2006 to staff the digital forensics program at Champlain College and conduct digital investigations with Vermont law enforcement. After receiving the most recent grant, Champlain College invested additional college funds to build a secure LCDI facility and teaching lab at the new Miller Center. The project has also received material support from, and maintains operational relationships with the Burlington Police Department, Vermont State Police and the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

“Champlain College is building a real-world classroom that gives students careers skills for the 21^st Century, gives Vermont’s law enforcement agencies a revolutionary digital forensics resource, and that once again shows Champlain College’s incredible ability to innovate and implement cutting-edge learning programs,” Leahy said, adding “This is a program that already has proven itself invaluable in putting criminals behind bars.” READ THE REST OF THE STORY


Watch a short video of the event

To learn more about relevant undergraduate programs, visit http://www.champlain.edu/Undergraduate-Studies/Majors-and-Programs.html.