As a child, Dr. Barnes enjoyed flipping over rocks to catch bugs in the creeks of his hometown in Plano, Texas. He later discovered a more scholarly approach to aquatic ecology and studying human interactions with their environment as an undergraduate at Southwestern University, earning a B.A. in biology with a minor in sociology. Barnes earned his PhD from The University of Notre Dame, then he returned to Texas in 2014 to begin a position within The Department of Natural Resources Management at Texas Tech University. Now an Associate Professor at Texas Tech, Barnes’ research program focuses on the ecology of environmental DNA (eDNA) and eDNA applications to improve fundamental ecological understanding about the distribution and dispersal of species, primarily in freshwater ecosystems.