STEPHANIE THORNTON is a senior microbiology major at Texas A&M University. During the summer of 2013, along-side PhD student, Chin Heo, she examined the microbial succession on swine carrion when arthropod activity was restricted. Stephanie continued to work in the FLIES Facility, analyzing the Biolog data to determine the relationship between microbial and arthropod activity on vertebrate carrion. She also led her own research, which looked into microbial metabolic community profiles as a potential mechanism for differentiating conspecific and heterospecific offspring of blow flies. The accumulation of her research led to her distinction as an Undergraduate Research Scholar and Aggie Research Scholar Team Leader.