My fourth visit (July 30th to August 2nd) was at Dayton University to spend some time with assistant professor, Dr Eric Benbow and his research group. Dr Benbow has a broad range of research interests ranging from aquatic ecosystems to ecological communities and forensic entomology. His research team is very active and keen and an absolute pleasure to be around, like many of the students I have met in the USA. I am always overwhelmed by the passion they have for their research.
My time with Dr Benbow was spent going over some statistics as he and his post doctorate associate, Dr Jen Pechal, excel in this area. I was also able to do some more hydrocarbon extractions of species of blowfly commonly found on decomposing remains in this region. The team had a scavenging experiment currently running whilst I was there, and I was lucky enough to go to the field one evening to see the laid out pigs. The maggot masses were in full swing, which I found very interesting (big thanks to Jamie Alfieri for letting me tag along!) I was also able to collect my own pupae from the ground around the pigs...something I have never had chance to do in the UK, so again, this was a great experience for me.
Time was also spent planning future experiments which will hopefully lead to a publication. I certainly hope to collaborate more with this group as they have some amazing ideas and I feel I could really learn a lot from them. We even managed to fit in a visit to the National Museum of the US Airforce which was great fun!!
In the evenings, we went to a baseball game, played some pool and Dr Benbow enjoyed some karaoke and dancing (nothing new there!!)
It was fantastic to spend time at Dayton University and once again I cannot speak highly enough about this fantastic research group, who's work is seriously impressive and I look forward to having a great working relationship with them in the future.
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