I am very lucky to have been awarded the 2012 Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship award where I will be travelling to the US this summer to carry out some research.
http://www.wcmt.org.uk/
I am currently in the final year of my PhD in Chemistry (applied to Forensic Entomology) and I will start my travels with a visit to Texas A&M University, College Station, to stay with a renowned forensic entomologist, Dr Jeff Tomberlin, where I hope to collect some samples and learn some basic collection techniques as well as go over some case reports.
I will then move onto Las Vegas for the North American Association of Forensic Entomology (NAFEA) conference. I have been accepted to give an oral presentation and I am thoroughly looking forward to meeting some exceptional scientists in the field.
From Vegas I shall be moving onto Michigan State University to spend some time with Dr Richard Merritt. He is a forensic entomologists and aquatic entomologist who is extremely experienced and I hope to take a lot from him.
My fourth visit will be with Dr Eric Benbow at Dayton University, Ohio. My aim here is to get some field experience as well as exploring more into statistical techniques.
My fifth visit is a very short one at the Ohio State University with Captain David Rose. Dave has completed an anthropology masters degree and is currently undergoing a PhD in that area so he has a lot of forensic knowledge as well as over 20 years of policing experience under his belt.
I wrap off my trip spending 2 weeks with the co-inventor of the analytical instrument Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART), Chip Cody (JEOL, Peabody, Massachusetts), where I will gain invaluable hands on experience with this new ion source coupled to a Time of Flight Mass Spectrometer (TOF) and see if it has the potential to be used in the field of forensic entomology.
Since I found out I was successful with the award I have done an interview on my local radio station (BBC Radio Stoke), appeared in a few press releases at my university (Keele University) and had a short article in my local paper (The Sentinel):
http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Hannah-excels-grubby-life/story-15256550-detail/story.html
I will keep blogging as often as I can when I am over in the US, with the aim to promote this amazing trust that has given me the opportunity of a life time. I am hoping to head out to the US on Friday 6th July, all being well.
