The research in his laboratory focuses on microbial–invertebrate community interactions in aquatic ecosystems, disease systems, and carrion ecology and evolution. All of these research foci use basic science to inform applications in forensics. He is regularly invited as a speaker at international and national academic meetings related to forensic entomology and has led workshops at the international level discussing experimental design, statistical analyses, and the importance of novel basic ecological concepts in advancing the field of forensic entomology.