What would you say you’ve learned working with your team this summer?

I’ve learned in a very concrete sense a lot about mosquitoes that I just didn’t know; the dynamics of their reproduction and how they act as disease vectors. I've been bitten by more mosquitoes in the time I've been working with this team, than ever before. It's funny, maybe I'm just noticing it more, because now I have this knowledge of what the mosquitoes are doing. In a less concrete sense, I've been learning what it takes to do independent research work. As someone who has just come out of high school, to work with a team and also do independent research and get that done, is important for me to learn, going into college.

You say you’re using plants from your area for your research study. What does that look like?

There’s a creek that runs through my neighborhood. And my backyard has a pond in it. Between the two of them, I have a lot of areas to choose from in terms of what is ideal mosquito habitat. I’m mainly looking for plants that are small and widespread enough that they might fall into and mix with the water. Mosquito larvae feed on plants that fall in. So, I’m looking for plants that have a high chance of falling in that water, stream or pond.

What inspires you about science?

I’m inspired by the idea that there is truth and it is not set in stone. It’s something we have to strive for, it’s an active verb. The truth can change over time and go from known, to unknown, to known again. The idea that I can play a part in that movement is something very cool about science. Science also inspires me because there are so many different areas. I jump around between a lot of subjects and I have a lot of areas I’m interested in. The nice thing about science is that if I get bored with one thing I can hop to the next. I’m not bored with mosquitoes yet, but maybe by the end of the month, I will be. That’s not the end of my environmental science career. That there’s so much to it, is something that inspires me about science.