Chenxi Zhang

she/her
Undergraduate Fellow
Tick and Wildlife Ecology Team

How did you get here? What brought you to Tyson?

I was TA-ing this environmental course called Sustainability and Beyond taught by Professor VanRipper introduced it to her class and told us that this would be a great opportunity. My co-TA had worked at Tyson before and our interests are kind of similar. We were both on the social or business track. He told me Tyson would be a great experience, he recommended it, my professor recommended it, so I applied.

Why did you decide to choose your specific team?

Honestly, when I read the description of all the teams, I saw there was a wildlife team and there was a tick team, right? I didn’t realize they were combined. So I actually applied to the wildlife team, but later on turned out they were combined. I was not so familiar with ticks before this program and I’m definitely learning about about them this summer. I do not regret my choice. Shout out to my mentors and teammates! They are amazing.

Do you see yourself doing this work in the future?

I know that I'm interested in environmental stuff in general, but I don’t know what aspect. I picked this program specifically to help myself explore my interests a little more. I'm still sort of in the area of exploring, but I definitely know I'm interested in wildlife. I’m still figuring it out.

What is something that other teams might not realize about what your team is doing?

Other teams, they have an overarching theme, but since we're combined, we have two mentors. We have so many different projects going on, it's not just one project overall. When people hear about our team, what comes to mind? Just ticks. But we also have bats, urban wildlife stuff, camera traps, we have all sort of things going on.

Do you have a favorite project?

I find tick sorting interesting. But not the part where you get ticks on you.

What has surprised you about this summer?

I got used to ticks really fast. I was scared in the beginning. I feel like I got used to ticks my first week here. It was surprising to me when I felt one on myself and didn't freak out. It was like it was normal.