CASEY HEARN is a MS student in the FLIES Facility. She received her BS in May 2017 from Texas A&M University in Forensic and Investigative Sciences with a double major in Sociology. During this time, she interned with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which increased her interest in the sciences used by law enforcement. Her current goal is to become a forensic entomologist to aide law enforcement efforts. Casey’s MS research will focus on decomposition ecology of ephemeral resources with a specific interest in the role bacteria play in driving blow fly colonization of a resource. Her research will be in collaboration with researchers in the UK as well as Aaron Tarone at Texas A&M, and Tawni Crippen at USDA.