During a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Internship Program (GRIP) I worked at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC). There, I learned a novel laboratory assay protocol for Yersinia pestis antibodies in wildlife blood samples. This was an exciting opportunity to work with federal government scientists and staff. Combined with my field data collection with the California Department of Public Health, I have experienced plague surveillance from field to laboratory to data analysis, which gives me a fuller perspective on my dissertation project. The second aim of my dissertation is a collaboration with USDA using data of coyotes across the United States tested for plague antibodies. I presented my preliminary findings to the National Wildlife Disease Program at the USDA NWRC and in a poster at the annual meetings of Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease and Ecological Society of America later this year.

USDA National Wildlife Research Center