Winston Churchill US tour: First stop, Texas A&M University...

I arrived in the US on 6th July to visit the wonderful assistant professor, Dr Tomberlin at Texas A&M University. I was not sure what to expect, as every member of staff who saw my final destination was College station asked, "why on earth are you going there?!?" My answer was simple, because there was an amazing entomologist based there! Dr Tomberlin has quickly become one of the most highly respected forensic entomologists in the field and has a large laboratory of extraordinary researchers. People from all around the world want to visit his FLIES facility, so I felt overwhelmingly honoured that I was able to visit and get to known him and his research team a little better.

I landed at about 5:30pm having taken four flights on the way. Dr Tomberlin kindly met me at the airport and we dumped my bags and went for beers, which seemed to set the scene for the remainder of the week!

I was picked up very early the next morning (Saturday 7th July) where we had a two hour drive to collect samples in the field followed by a lovely swim in a river to cool off. Sunday involved identifying the collected samples and going over my first case report with Dr Tomberlin (he clearly has never heard the phrase, "Sunday is the day of rest...")

The following week involved some hard hard work, including the collection of hydrocarbons (my PhD research area) from six different species which I shall analyse later in my trip at JEOL. I reviewed five case reports and really enjoyed seeing the dynamics of the lab in action. Dr Tomberlin's research group are the most inspiring group of people I have ever come across. They are extremely driven and ooze passion for their research. I enjoyed meeting other entomologists, including Dr Tarone - someone who I certainly hope to correspond more with in the future!

The evenings consisted of socialising with the research group, including playing pool, bowling (both of which involved Dr Tomberlin losing!), cinema and some bad baking!