Dr. DeEtta (Dee) Mills is an Associate Professor and current Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida International University. She is also the current Director of the MARC USTAR program and the International Forensic Research Institute (IFRI), now a part of the Global Forensic and Justice Center (GFJC). Dr. Mills received her BS in (Cell) Biology from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, and her MS in Biology from Texas Christian University, Ft. Worth, TX. Her PhD in Environmental Sciences and Public Policy was awarded from George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, where she developed microbial DNA profiling methods to monitor soil communities. Her research areas of expertise are the soil microbiome for soil provenance and forensic applications, novel DNA separation methods, non-human DNA profiling, and scent detection canines. Funding sources have included NIH (MARC USTAR program), NSF (microbial communities and novel separation methods), NIJ (work force training grant; trace evidence collection), USDA-FS (equine DNA profiling), FBI (trace epithelial cell collection), National Geo-spatial Intelligence Agency (soil forensics), and Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (canine fungal pathogen detection). Dr. Mills and her students have filed two patents (vacuum collection device for trace evidence; pathogen gold nanoparticle biosensor). Dr. Mills has been awarded ≈ $2.0M in grants/contracts either as PI, co-PI or a subcontractor.