About Me
Hi everyone! My name is Emily Hansen, and I am the summer intern for the CCE Onondaga County Tick Surveillance Study. I am a rising senior in CALS, studying Global and Public Health Sciences and minoring in Infectious Disease. After studying Biological Engineering for two years at Cornell, I realized I wanted to have a more active and engaged role in the health of communities around me. I took a leap of faith and switched to public health, and I have loved it ever since!
In the fall, I took a course called “Biology of Infectious Disease: From Molecules to Ecosystems,” where I learned more about vector-borne diseases and their relationship to ecosystems around us. I had the opportunity to analyze scientific literature that concentrated on tick density and its relationship with animal populations, specifically the white-footed mouse. Learning about the dilution effect hypothesis and various methods of ecological disease control, such as animal vaccination, sparked my interest in this project.
Seeing the classroom knowledge I’ve acquired being applied in a real-world study is an incredible experience. I’m deeply grateful for the chance to be involved, and am eagerly looking forward to this summer!
Getting Started
My first week was spent getting a feel for the project and my new surroundings. I moved into the Cornell Biological Field Station at Shackleton Point, which is incredibly beautiful! I met with the research team, Harry and Sierra, to discuss our goals and objectives. The first three days were spent in the field collecting data on different residential properties. I learned the process of tick dragging and how to use a rangefinder and hygrometer. Later in the week, Sierra and I digitized our data for easy reference and reviewed some previous literature surrounding tick surveillance in the area. On Friday, Harry and I did some canvassing and looked for properties that could work for the study. Although we struggled to find many ticks this week, we hope that as the season progresses, we will be able to collect the required amount of nymphs from each site. On our drive to the office one morning, Sierra was able to find a tick in my car, which I believe is a good sign for the rest of our data collection. 🙂
