On Tuesday, July 16, Vermont State University’s (VTSU) Johnson campus co-hosted Vermont’s annual Disease and Wildlife Ecology Symposium alongside faculty from Middlebury College, Norwich University, and St. Michaels College. The event included presentations focused on the themes of disease dynamics and ecological interactions among various species, including studies on melanoma in fish, tick-borne diseases, parasite infections, microbial pathogens, and the effects of invasive species and stress on health.
Four VTSU students from the Castleton and Johnson campuses presented their research, “Is black-legged tick abundance associated with invasive plant species cover in rural private woodlands?” Deacon Watson, a student at VTSU Castleton, shared, “It is great to get a chance to collaborate with my fellow peers as well as get an idea of what the future looks like in these sort of events, because in undergrad, you often don’t get chances to do research – much less to present that research in a meaningful forum – and so this is a good opportunity to get an idea what that looks like.”
The symposium arose from a Disease and Wildlife Thematic Interest Group formed through the Vermont Biomedical Research Network (VBRN), which supports biomedical research at VTSU and other colleges and universities in the state.
Alexandra Williams: Student at VTSU Castleton: “I’m really excited to learn about everyone else’s research and see how we can learn from others and apply that to our future research. We got to present the work we spent three months on and get to actually talk about it with other people that aren’t in the woods!” Allie Cloutier, a VTSU Johnson student, echoed these sentiments, sharing, “I’m most excited about sharing our research and getting to speak to other people about ecology, and share ideas.”
Attendees of the symposium included professors, graduate, and undergraduate students from the University of Vermont, Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife, Middlebury College, Norwich University, St. Michael’s College, as well as from University of Massachusetts Amherst and University of Maine. This year the event was co-sponsored by the VBRN and the New England Center of Excellence in Vector Borne Diseases.
For more information or questions about the event, please contact Associate Professor William Landesman at William.Landesman@VermontState.edu.
