July 14-18

 This week was exciting, with a combination of both some old and new work. Again this week, I worked with Olivia on sorting mosquitoes and conducting bottle bioassays with Etofenprox. Fun fact: While sorting mosquitoes, I listened to one song 22 times. Our traps this week caught a high yield of Culex tarsalis, which is what we wanted. After getting a majority of Aedes vexans from Dixon Reservoir, we hoped the following trapping sites would yield more Culex tarsalis to test.

Outside of the lab, Grace invited me to travel to Nunn, Colorado, for an outreach event. There, we talked to a group of senior citizens about West Nile Virus and tick prevention, then gave them informational flyers and bug wipes. I really enjoyed talking to all of the attendees in a smaller, more intimate environment. I have also been working on some items to construct a “Grab n’ Go” outreach event kit. As I am doing work on the kit, it has also been helpful to attend outreach events to see what really engages our audiences. I enjoy outreach because I feel that it’s vital for the public to be informed about scientific ongoings. This is true especially when infectious diseases are involved, such as WNV. By doing outreach, we can connect with people who are directly affected by the science that we are doing, while also eradicating any false information that may be circulating. Grace and I are planning to attend more events next week, as well, which I am looking forward to.