Current Students
Former Students
Finding pictures for the following:
Krista Lazo
Nacera Benslamine
Janelle Gonzales
Humberto Garcia
Seun Aloba
Sofia Andujo
Crystal Serrano
Krista Lazo
Nacera Benslamine
Janelle Gonzales
Humberto Garcia
Seun Aloba
Sofia Andujo
Crystal Serrano
Estefany Moya Aguilar '17 - Estefany was part of the research team in 2016. Here she is shown as part of the San Antonio Express News interview where she is preparing the traps for deployment. Estefany is now in PA school at The University of Texas El Paso.
Arianna Alvarez and Jonathan Hernandez '18 - Arianna and Jonathan were integral in the 2016 study, here they are showing taking data during an interview with WOAI in San Antonio. Arianna and Jonathan were in charge of the residential surveillance on the South Side. Arianna also conducted a small side project through the CIMA/LSAMP program where she looked at the attraction response of mosquitoes to different larval food sources. Ariana is currently employed at Texas Bio Med working with Marmosets. Jonathan is close to starting a Ph.D. program in vector biology.
Joel Obregon '16 - Joel is shown here with one of our BG traps, as part of an interview with San Antonio Express News. Joel has worked with me for over 3 years and is currently my lab/field technician. He is currently co-authoring a paper with me over the research we conducted in 2017. He has attended the Texas Mosquito Control Association annual meetings in 2016 and 2017. In 2017 he gave a talk on our research.
Alejandra Moya '17 - Alejandra is shown here collecting mosquitoes at a residence in Northern San Antonio. The photo was taken as part of a TPR interview on the city's preparedness for Zika. Alejandra was part of the surveillance studies for 2016 and 2017.
Trina Fenning and Jessica Buitron '16 - Trina and Jessica are shown here in the USA Today article where our research team was highlighted for studying the distribution of the Zika vector, Aedes aegypti. Jessican and Trina have come with me to the Texas Mosquito Control Association meeting in Kerrville, 2016. Trina is working in the biomedical field in a research lab.
Michelle Ximenez '16 - Michelle started in my lab in 2014 and stayed on through 2017. Michelle has won the James T. Long Undergraduate Research award from the Texas Mosquito Control Association. Michelle is currently a field/lab technician in my lab. Michelle's interest in this field prompted her to take my biology of disease vectors course in the spring of 2015 and now I can't get her to stop coming up with new ideas for mosquito research...I love it.
Alfonso Vazquez '15- Alfonso participated in the 2014 survey of mosquito species distribution in residential areas of San Antonio and presented this research at the Texas Mosquito Control Association meeting in Galveston, TX in Fall 2014. Alfonso was also a part of the feral hog helminth survey and became quite adept at getting through the hog guts quickly and thoroughly. Alfonso is going to medical school.
Amarillys Barquin - Amarillys has worked in my lab since 2013 and has been a part of my research on nematomorph-induced changes in calling behavior of their cricket hosts. She is the first author on a publication coming out in the next issue of the Journal of Parasitology (summer 2015). Amarillys has also presented a poster on this subject at the American Society of Parasitologists Annual meeting in New Orleans, LA in 2014 as well as an oral presentation on a survey of mosquito speciees distribtuiono in San Antion at the Southwestern Association of Parasitologists Meeting at the University of Oklahoma Biology Station in 2015. Finally, Amarillys has been an integral researcher with the feral hog intestinal helminth survey.
Joshua Darden is an Alamo College Student at St. Phillips college who conducted research with me during the summers of 2015 and 2016. Josh was a CIMA NSF undergraduate research fellow in 2015 and was awarded the James T. Long Undergraduate Research grant from the Texasm Mosquito Control Association. Josh rocked it and did a great job identifying mosquitoes, entering data, and being a go-to type of guy. Josh will be enrolling at A&M-SA in the spring to continue to do research with me. Josh even made a video documenting his experience
Dominique Hernandez is an Alamo College Student at Palo Alto College and was one of my research students through the CIMA NSF undergraduate research fellowship. Dominique also became a master mosquito identifyer and I think the research bug has gotten into her. Dominque presented her research at the CIMA student symposium
Kalin Skinner '15 - Kalin recently graduated and has been part of my lab since the fall of 2013. Kalin was the lead undergraduate researcher for the feral hog intestinal helminth study. Kalin presented this research this spring at the Southwestern Association of Parasitologists meeting and won the Marc Dresden Best Undergraduate Presentation award. Kalin is currently writing this research up for submission to the Journal of Wildlife Diseases. Kalin went on to earn a Master's Degree at Angelo State University under Dr. Nick Negovetich studying parasite life cycles. She is currently a Ph.D. student at Texas Tech studying parasite of quails.
Benjamin McGehee '14 - Ben has been part of my lab since the summer of 2013 and was one of the lead researchers in the nematomorph project. Ben is second author on the paper with Amarillys above. Ben has also presented this research at the Southwestern Association of Parasitologists in the spring of 2014. Ben has been involved in helping to design and carry out the mosquito surveillance project for both summers 2014 and 2015. Ben is finsihingVeterinary School at Oklahoma State University.
Marissa Lightsey '14 - Marissa was a part of my lab for two semesters and assisted in the nematomorph study. Marissa was also one of our dedicated work-study students in the Biology teaching labs, helping us move from one lab to three labs - a daunting task. Marissa is now in North Carolina applying to graduate schools in biomedical sciences.
Yvette Rodriguez '14 - Yvette was one of my very first undergraduate researchers and was involved in helping me build my first lab. Much of her research was involved with finding natural sources of nematomorphs in South Texas as well as helping to develop protocols for studying nematomorph-induced behavioral changes in crickets. She helped start up the project that ended in the publication on which Amarillys and Ben are co-authors. After earning her Bachelor's in Nursing at UTHSC, she is in the midst of earning her Ph.D. in nursing at the University of Washington.
Elizabeth Gallardo and Sofia Andujo joined my lab summer (2015) to work with mosquitoes and are currently writing up their research for poster presentations and student symposia.
Aaron Howard '14 - Aaron Howard was also one of my first undergraduates and did much of the same work that Yvette did above. Aaron's primary area of research was developing a study to investigate the age at which crickets can successfully become infected with nematomorphs. Aaron presented his experimental design as a post at the Southwestern Association of Parasitologists meeting spring 2014.
Jessica Garza '13 - Jessica was part of the first cohort of undergraduate researchers and helped with the first studies we did on nematomorph-induced behavioral alterations in crickets. Jessica presented Jessica is now employed full-time in quality control at a local milk processing facility.
Tessa Owens & Alma Ruiz - These two women are the newest addition to my lab, having just starting spring of 2015. During this time they have participated in the feral hog project dssecting their fair share of hog guts. Both women have also taken my Biology of Disease Vectors course and will be conducting some of their own research on mosquitoes this summer.
Juliana Herrera '13 - Julie was also one of my first undergraduate researchers and worked on the initial studies we conducted on nematomorph-induced behavioral alterations. Julie is now applying to graduate schools.