MICHAEL BANFIELD is a senior Forensic and Investigative Sciences major and Chemistry minor at Texas A&M University. From 2013-2015 he worked on a decomposition project Heo Chong Chin- a PhD student in the FLIES Facility. This research can be used to assist in the calculation of a more accurate time of colonization of human remains to infer a minimum postmortem interval. On a more basic level, this work is providing insight as to how native and invasive blow flies respond to abiotic factors regulating their colonization of carrion and the ability of the community as a whole exhibits ecological plasticity. During the fall of 2014 through spring 2015 he lead an undergraduate research team on project examining the competitive relationship between vertebrate and invertebrate scavengers of vertebrate carrion. Historically, fast development by insects that feed on carrion was suspected to be selected for by competition between these insect species. We hypothesized vertebrate scavengers served as a more primary mechanism selecting for this trait as their ability to consume whole carrion (minutes) is greater than what is exhibited by insects (days).