I am a Ph.D. student at the department of Entomology at the University of Ilinois. I am working on a phylogeny for the mud crickets, pygmy mole crickets, and sandgropers in the superfamily Tridactyloidea (Orthoptera: Caelifera). Crickets highly associated with water sources that in most cases have the ability to jump from the water and some can swim. At the Collaborative Ecological Genetics Laboratory (INHS), I am working on DNA extraction of mitochondrial and nuclear genes that will be included in the analysis of phylogenetic relationships for the group. This will help me not only to provide support for high-level relationships but also in the identification of sibling species.