Biography

Sandra is the study coordinator for the Rhode Island side of the Backyard Integrated Tick Management Study (BITM). She originally worked on BITM as a student intern at Western Connecticut State University’s Tickborne Disease Prevention Laboratory (WCSU’s Tick Lab) completing field work, laboratory work, participating in community outreach and eventually working on her own research project assessing dryer-induced mortality on field collected blacklegged ticks with another student. Their project won a Provost’s Award at Western Research Day and a Student Research Award from the WCSU chapter of the Sigma Xi research honor society. After graduating from WCSU with a Bachelors in Biology, she continued to work in the Tick Lab as a research assistant. She joined URI’s Center for Vector-Borne Disease in May of 2019. Having immigrated to the USA as a child, she hopes to become a researcher who can better serve her immigrant community. She hopes to pursue a M.S. in Entomology that would allow her to better help and educate her community while working in the field she enjoys