Featured Graduate Student: Anthony Grigsby
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EmailMeet Anthony Grigsby, graduate student involved in research on insects of forensic interest and their relationships with the carrion they inhabit—microbes and all.
Hometown: Perrysburg, Ohio
Previous education: B.S. in Microbiology, minor in Entomology, The Ohio State University
What or who inspired your interest in entomology?Growing up in Arizona exposed me to a lot of inverts that most people might consider harmful and unwanted in the right context, but making opportunities for myself to rear them helped better my understanding of their roles in nature and society. Once you’re sobered to the reality that there isn’t a single place in nature that isn’t their domain to some extent, it’s hard to stop thinking about bugs. The chance to see what lives where and does what kind of drove me to make them a part of my life.
What is your favorite activity as part of your graduate studies? The fieldwork is by far the most enjoyable part of being a graduate student. It’s an incredibly unique facet of entomological and forensic research I haven’t had much experience with the past, and having our lab’s focus effectively require it has been great.
What are you researching?My research concerns the insects of forensic interest and their relationships with the carrion they inhabit—microbes and all. I focus largely on fly larvae as chief colonizers of cadavers and drivers of human decomposition, but also as incredibly valuable pieces of evidence in criminal investigations and forensic analysis.
What is your favorite thing about MSU?My favorite thing about MSU is the campus. I don’t think I’ll ever get to see every inch of this campus at this rate, it’s just so expansive.
What is most interesting about your experience becoming a student of entomology?What stands out to me as being the most interesting part of becoming an entomology student has been the fact that I was able to at all. It just goes to show you that, no matter how niche or narrow your academic/professional interests might seem, there’s always someone out there somewhere (inexplicably) researching that exact thing.
