Erin Hassett, M.S.

My career aspirations have always concerned the environment, in large part because my personal interests are directly tied to outdoor recreation and nature. I have a deep appreciation for natural places, being an avid backpacker, cyclist, and nature artist, and I aim to have my carbon footprint be as minimal as possible. It made sense for me, then, to study environmental science over the years, taking classes in topics like forest ecology, entomology, aquatic ecosystem restoration, traditional ecological knowledge, and climate change.  

 

Subsequently, I have crafted my career path to target One Health themes: the overarching goal of improving environmental, human, and animal health together since they are all interconnected. Over the years and in between degrees, my career path has taken me to Missouri to work for the Department of Conservation where I studied how fish species change in response to human-caused stream flow alteration. I worked at the Tennessee Department of Health to test mosquitoes for viruses across the state. I traveled to Delaware to study tick species distribution in public parks with the Department of Fish & Wildlife/ National Resources and Environmental Conservation, as well as perform mosquito surveys and pesticide application to prevent disease. Finally, I moved to Upstate New York to study the ecology of a neuroinvasive tick-borne virus, Powassan Virus.

 

All of these projects taught me that all life is undoubtedly impacted by climate change. As such, my experiences have affirmed how important environmental health is to me and how our health is intricately dependent on the environment. As a result, I am currently in the progress of completing a PhD to further research how climate change is affecting our ecosystems. 

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