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Austin Butterfly Forum with Guest Speaker Andrew Meeds

Name: Austin Butterfly Forum with Guest Speaker Andrew Meeds
Start: 2025-06-23T18:30:00-05:00
End: 2025-06-23T21:00:00-05:00
Location: Zilker Botanical Garden

June 23, 2025 @ 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm

Open to the Public, Free to Attend

Decomposition in the Desert: Researching Forensic Entomology in the Sonoran Desert

Forensic entomology refers to the use of insect science in legal investigations and is most famously associated with its use in time of death investigations. This presentation will follow the Forensic Entomology and Wildlife Laboratory’s efforts to uncover the ecology of carrion insects in the Sonoran Desert. This presentation will not only cover the utility of these insects in legal investigations, but will also discuss the critical environmental roles filled by decomposers.

Andrew W. Meeds | MS: Entomology, American Board of Forensic Entomology: Technician. Laboratory Manager Forensic Entomology and Wildlife Laboratory at Arizona State University and West Valley Campus

Andrew Meeds has been working for Dr. Lauren Weidner’s Forensic Entomology and Wildlife Laboratory at ASU since 2019 as a research technician and laboratory manager. In addition to assisting the PI on casework, he handles technical aspects of field and lab-based experiments related to forensic entomology and mentors undergraduate students in the lab. He is also a faculty associate in the School of Interdisciplinary Forensics at ASU West Valley and has taught undergraduate lecture and laboratory courses related to forensic entomology.