JAMES RIGGS is an Entomology Ph.D. student focused on insects as sustainable sources of food. He is a South
Carolinian, having obtained a B.S. in Biology and a Minor in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies at the College of Charleston in 2019. After university, he interned in association with Clemson University on Spring Island with the primary focus of conducting insect diversity surveys. This was followed by years of working in the packaging industry followed by serving in the South Carolina State Park Service. He has reared award-winning insects, the most recent of which, a carpenter ant colony, can be seen on display in the nature center at Poinsett State Park. He joined F.L.I.E.S. in the fall of 2024 and will be conducting research into cold storage of black soldier flies with the hopes of reducing world hunger and getting them integrated into extraterrestrial colonies.