Lyme disease emergence in Virginia
Health issues and sanitation in the Greater Antilles
Examination of potential impacts of climate variability and change on Aedes albopictus habitat in Hawaii
Active learning in the geography classroom
Lyme disease emergence in Virginia
Data from the past several years indicates that Lyme disease is increasingly diagnosed in Virginia, and the disease also appears to be spreading inland from the coast. This work, initially funded by an internal grant from VT's Institute for Biomedical and Public Health Sciences (now Fralin Life Sciences Institute) and newly funded by the National Science Foundation, seeks to understand the underlying environmental factors, at local and broad scales, that may be responsible for Lyme disease's spread in Virginia. The project involves collaboration between VT's Departments of Geography and Statistics, and the Virginia Department of Health [top]
Health issues and sanitation in the Greater Antilles
Funded by a sub-award from the American Geographical Society's grant from the Department of Defense, this project has taken my collaborators, Joseph Scarpaci and Bill Galloway, and I to the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Haiti. We examine tourist enclaves and the rapidly growing nearby shantytowns, which have unique infrastructural challenges that affect the health of residents. [top]
Examination of potential impacts of climate variability and change on Aedes albopictus habitat and dengue risk areas in Hawaii
This extension of my dissertation research examines the potential expansion and contraction of mosquito habitat in Hawaii during El Niño and La Niña events, and also under future climate scenarios, which are likely to result in warmer and wetter summers across the islands. This work has been published in The Professional Geographer and Climate Research. [top]
Active learning in the geography classroom
From a pedagogical perspective, I'm interested in the ways that active learning can be applied in the geography classroom, particularly through the use fieldwork. I have evaluated the potential for incorporating fieldwork within study abroad programs in Cuba and the Dominican Republic, and with funding from the National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE), geography colleague Lynn Resler and I explored the efficacy of webcams as an alternative to traditional field visits for human and physical geography courses in Charlotte, NC and the Great Smokies National Park, NC-TN. [top]
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