Cell migration, defined as the directed movement of cells to specific locations, is a fundamental process for the development and maintenance of multicellular organisms. The migration of skin cells, for instance, is vital for the wound healing process after injury. Cell migration must also be carefully controlled, as improper migration contributes to many diseases. Congenital birth defects can arise as the result of improper cell migration during embryonic development. Further, cell migration is a crucial step in the process of metastasis, the spreading of cancer cells from the primary tumor to distant organs, which is the primary cause of death for cancer patients. An emerging factor in cell migration are lipid droplets, specialized organelles for storing lipids include fatty acids. Lipid droplets have been shown to promote the migration of cultured cancer cells. My thesis project is focused on understanding whether lipid droplets have a conserved role in cell migration, including during normal, developmental migrations inside living organisms. To address these questions, I use a developmental model of collective cell migration called border cell migration. During Drosophila oogenesis, the border cells undergo a temporally defined migration in between an adjacent tissue to reach the oocyte. I find that the border cells store fat in lipid droplets, and that the careful release of fatty acids from lipid droplets is essential for border cell delamination—the initial process of detachment from the epithelium—and for the completion of their migration on time. Further, I identify the protein adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) as an important regulator of fatty acid release from lipid droplets during border cell migration. Finally, I propose that fatty acids are trafficked from lipid droplets to mitochondria to provide energy for border cell delamination and migration. Together, these findings support that lipid droplets have an evolutionarily conserved role in collective cell migration and may be specifically required to provide energy for the process of delamination.