Beetle systematics: I specialize on the beetle family Staphylinidae. Staphylinid beetles are one of the greatest successes of evolution. With more than 51,000 described species, they are found virtually everywhere and have a plethora of forms and evolutionary novelties. Currently, I am collaborating with colleagues from the Field Museum, the Copenhagen Museum of Natural History and the University of Kansas (NSF DEB-0741475) to resolve the phylogenetic relationships of the tribe Staphylinini using six genes and a morphological dataset. This is a group of more than 300 genera and 5400 species distributed worldwide. Even though staphylinid beetles are numerous, they have received relatively little attention and there are a plethora of research projects involving both systematic questions (description of new species, phylogenetic analyses and monographs) and broader evolutionary questions such as the evolution of coloration and the evolution of eye size. Current species revision projects include the genera Dysanellus and Xanthopygus, descriptions of several new Xanthopygina genera and a phylogenetic analysis of neotropical Xanthopygina.

Tennessee Valley Beetle Fauna: Recently we have started a project to catalogue and identify the beetles in the TN valley region and the Cumberland Plateau. Simple questions such as: "How many species of beetles are there in TN?"  or "What is the conservation status of beetles in TN?" are without an answer.