REDI-NET - Key Persons
Abby Lilak is a Ph.D. student in Public Health with a One Health concentration at the University of Florida. Her areas of interest are vector-borne diseases, One Health, and infectious diseases. Previous work experiences include being a member of Peace Corps Tanzania, pathogen discovery in Kenya, and EcoHealth Net. Future goals are to continue to work on global health projects with a strong emphasis on local capacity building and to lessen the impact of emerging and re-emerging diseases on vulnerable communities.
Job Titles:
- Biomedical Engineer
- Vectech CTO and Co - Founder
Adam is a biomedical engineer focused on health disparities. Currently they are working on computer vision based methods for improved vector surveillance and environmental health data.
Job Titles:
- Eck Family Associate Professor
- Modeling Advisor
Alex Perkins, Eck Family Associate Professor, is in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame. His research applies mathematical, computational, and statistical approaches to answer basic and applied research questions about the ecology and epidemiology of infectious diseases. These diseases pose a risk to billions of people, are the subject of intense development of new interventions, and are highly sensitive to numerous forms of global change.
Job Titles:
- Acting Manager at the Belize Vector and Ecology Center
Alvaro Cruz is the current acting manager at the Belize Vector and Ecology Center (BVEC). He has been at BVEC for the past 5 years. Before becoming the acting manager, Alvaro was the
Andrew joined the REDI-NET NECE field team in November 2023. He holds a master's degree in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. His experience is in neuroscience, biochemistry, and he specializes in various optical detecteion methods of nucleic acid.
Job Titles:
- Research Assistant at the University of Arkansas Division of Entomology
Anna Grace is a research assistant at the University of Arkansas Division of Entomology and Plant Pathology in Fayetteville, AR. She holds a BS in biochemistry from the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith. Previously in Oklahoma City, she worked as a lab technician specializing in identifying species of bacteria and fungi, alongside DNA collection for missing persons cases. Outside her scientific pursuits, Anna Grace enjoys reading, biking, and spending time with her family.
Job Titles:
- Laboratory Manager at the Naval Health Research Laboratory
Anne Fraser is the Sr. Laboratory Manager at the Naval Health Research Laboratory - Operational Infectious Diseases (NHRC - OID) Directorate. Anne is an ASCP-certified Medical Laboratory Scientist and CA-certified Clinical Laboratory Scientist with 15 years of laboratory testing and operational management experience. In this role, Anne oversees operations in OID's CLIP- and CAP-accredited laboratory, which performs biosurveillance, clinical trial, and diagnostic testing in support of the Navy mission.
Anne received her Bachelor of Science degree from CSU Sacramento and completed her post-grad clinical laboratory scientist training at San Jose State University. Prior to joining the team at NHRC - OID, Anne worked extensively in the commercial molecular diagnostic biotechnology sector.
Arlo Cansino is a graduate from the University of Belize and holds a Bachelor of Science in Tourism Management. His decision to venture into tourism came from his love of country and his memories of family vacations in Belize. His love of country grew from traveling Belize to seeking change for Belize. Arlo's career started at the Belize Tourism Board (BTB) where he worked primarily with rural communities that were outside of the tourism belts. The Destination Development Department's goal was to identify and develop programs to provide these communities access to the tourism industry. This included site development, trainings and exhibitions. It was there that he began seeing opportunities for the improvement in access to basic health services.
He became familiar with The Belize Vector and Ecology (BVEC) through Marla Cansino, who had been working alongside Donovan Leiva and lead by Sanjeev Mahabir. Here he was exposed to the realities of vector-borne diseases and the research being done in Belize. After leaving the BTB, he worked with Friends for Conservation and Development (FCD), an NGO that manages the largest plot of protected areas in Belize. While in the field, he came across field staff who constantly suffered from Leishmaniasis, a vector-borne disease seen primarily affecting forest rangers and military personnel. He became even more fascinated with vector-borne diseases and the challenges in treatment. So, when the opportunity came to work for BVEC as Program Coordinator, he was very excited to be part of a great team whose goal is to understand and fight these vector-borne diseases. Arlo hopes that his experience in project management, community outreach and his natural curiosity for science will help BVEC further its influence in Belize for a safer and healthier community.
Job Titles:
- Researcher
- Postdoctoral Researcher
Benedicte Fustec is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Notre Dame. In this role, Benedicte oversees the undergraduate and graduate students working in the Achee-Grieco laboratory and assists with the training of the field team in Belize. Prior to joining the REDI-NET team in the summer of 2021, she worked for six years in Thailand for the STOPVEC program and the DENGUEINDEX project, on vector-borne diseases epidemiology, combining both entomological indicators and new serological approaches to better understand the entomological factors of arboviral disease transmission.
She has expertise in basic and applied medical entomology investigations and vector control technologies. She also has collaborated with Pasteur Institute in Lao PDR to better assess the mechanisms of insecticide resistance in mosquitoes of public health interest for both Thailand and Lao PDR. Passionate about nature, exploring new areas, and knowledge sharing, she is experienced and particularly enthusiastic about working in the field within multicultural and multidisciplinary teams.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Data Management Team
- Manager Software Development, Center for Research Computing
Bradley Sandberg joined the Center for Research Computing (CRC) at Notre Dame in 2019 as a Research Programmer, focusing on software support, middleware, and interface developments. He creates tools in Python, Java, C, C++, SQL to support scientific applications, databases, and analysis of data. On the REDI-NET program, Brad leads the CRC team focusing primarily on the development of field data collection software, database design and data management, and web portal development.
Brooke Rodriguez is an undergraduate student in the Class of 2024 at the University of Notre Dame. She is pursuing a BS in Mathematics with a supplementary major in Environmental Sciences and is a member of the Glynn Family Honors Program. She is also a Trustey Family Scholar at Notre Dame. Brooke joined the REDI-NET team in the Fall of 2021 working with the mathematical modelers within the Perkins laboratory. In January 2022, she was able to work side-by-side with the scientists at the Navy Entomology Center of Excellence to learn about field sample collection as it pertains to the data feeding into the outputs the modeling team develops and maintains. She presented this work at the 2022 College of Science Joint Annual Meeting.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Data Management Team
- Assistant Director for Software Development at the Center for Research Computing
- Assistant Director for Software Development, Center for Research Computing
Caleb Reinking is the assistant director for software development at the Center for Research Computing (CRC). In his current role, Caleb oversees the software project portfolio of the CRC and acts as the first point of contact for potential software projects. He has worked on several projects that involved research portal development and data management in the space of vector borne disease trials. Caleb is also experienced as a software Scrum Master and Scrum Product Owner.
Job Titles:
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Postdoctoral Researcher
Cameron Osborne, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. His previous projects include field collections of Culicoides biting midges and both hard and soft ticks, surveying arthropods for pathogens and symbiotic bacteria, and understanding vector physiology toward developing new control strategies. His primary research goals include identifying risks to animal and human welfare and developing strategies to mitigate these using a blend of traditional and novel methods.
Job Titles:
- Undergraduate Research Assistant
Caroline Pitts is a 2022 graduate of the University of Notre Dame with a double major in Biological Sciences and English, and she plans to earn her Master's in Public Health. Caroline joined the Achee-Grieco Laboratory in the Fall of 2019 and the REDI-NET program in the Spring of 2021. Within the REDI-NET program, Caroline developed comprehensive reports on the potential biohazards in Belize and Florida, worked on tick imaging and identification on the Vectech IDX, tick sample processing, and gDNA sequence analysis. Additionally, Caroline used REDI-NET standard operating procedures to identify pathogens of human interest in tick samples collected in the Corozal and Orange Walk Districts in Belize by the Belize Vector and Ecology Center (BVEC).
Job Titles:
- Department Head, Research & Development ( R & D )
- Head of R & D at the Navy Entomology Center of Excellence
CDR Theron Hamilton, Ph.D., is the head of R&D at the Navy Entomology Center of Excellence (NECE) in Jacksonville, FL. He is the first Navy Biochemist (1810D) to work at NECE since its founding. He received a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Brown University in 2007. Graduate work was followed by a post-doctoral appointment in Brown University's Molecular Biology, Cell Biology & Biochemistry Department. He was commissioned into the U.S. Navy in 2009 with follow-on tours at the Navy Drug Screening Lab, San Diego (Dep Dir Ops); the US Naval Academy (Asst Prof of Chem); Naval Medical Research Center's Biological Defense Research Directorate (Head of Genomics & Bioinformatics and a Team Leader of a mobile biothreat-detection lab); and the Navy Drug Screening Laboratory, Jacksonville (Executive Officer). CDR Hamilton is also a founding and core member of the US Navy Surgeon General's Science panel and co-author of BUMED's monthly Naval Medical Intelligence Report. At NECE, CDR Hamilton's team provides expertise in direct support of NECE's operational activities and other DoD, USG, and academic agencies through cutting-edge genomics and bioinformatics analyses aimed at reducing vector-borne disease transmission.
Job Titles:
- Graduate Research Assistant
As part of REDI-NET, Donovan worked on tick e-ID processing, sample processing, and sequencing of iDNA and eDNA to check for known and unknown pathogens. Before coming to Notre Dame in the Fall of 2021, he was the field station manager at the Belize Vector and Ecology Center (BVEC), a research center focusing on vector-borne disease research, where he collaborated with international researchers funded by Google, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Department of Defense who worked with the Belize Ministry of Health to strengthen the country's capacity for disease prevention and research. He has had the opportunity to spread vector-borne disease awareness locally by conducting community outreach in local schools and governmental bodies and presenting his findings to local and regional stakeholders in Central America to encourage collaboration. Donovan is interested in expanding on the dynamic between his research experiences and newly acquired insight on policy making to bridge the gaps that lead to successful interventions in communities most in need.
Donovan received his Master's degree from Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs, specializing in Global Health. He is currently at the University of Notre Dame as a Research Project Coordinator at the Lucy Institute for Data and Society.
Job Titles:
- Research Council Research Associate
Dr. Brian Bourke is a National Research Council Research Associate at WRBU, where he is currently working on the population genomics of Anopheles malaria vectors. He completed his Ph.D. in conservation genetics at the University of Nottingham, and has been working within the field of medical entomology for more than 10 years. Dr. Bourke's research to date has focused on the phylogenetics of neotropical Anopheles mosquitoes, where higher level taxonomic relationships remain poorly understood and where emerging genomic data will allow for the establishment of a robust phylogeny. He has also worked on Anopheles species delimitation and discovery in the Amazon, where malaria vector diversity continues to be underestimated in areas endemic for malaria. More recent collaborative work has involved delimiting cryptic population boundaries in Anopheles gambiae, the principal vector of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, showing the potential suitability of lacustrine islands as sites for genetic control trials in malaria-endemic regions. His field experience includes entomological collections across a variety of biomes in Brazil, as well as ornithological field work in Ireland, Madagascar, Scotland, and the United States.
Job Titles:
- External Partner
- Assistant Professor of Biology
Dr. Daniel Becker, Assistant Professor of Biology, has partnered with the University of Notre Dame to provide bat samples from Belize C.A. through a Material Transfer Agreement.
Job Titles:
- External Partner
- Director of the University of Rhode Island 's Center
Dr. Thomas Mather, director of the University of Rhode Island's Center for Vector-Borne Disease and its TickEncounter Resource Center, has partnered with the Navy Entomology Center for Excellence (NECE) to provide tick samples through a Material Transfer Agreement.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas Department of Entomology
- Assistant Professor of Medical and Veterinary Entomology
Emily McDermott, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology in Fayetteville, AR. Her research interests are on the ecology of arthropod vectors of animal diseases, focusing on understanding vector-borne disease epidemiology, and developing novel control tools. She previously served as the Senior Scientist of the Vector Control Department at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, where she evaluated chemical control methods for mosquitoes and sandflies. Current research priorities in the McDermott Lab include the spatial ecology of Culicoides biting midges at the livestock-wildlife interface, and the epidemiology of emerging tick-borne diseases of cattle in Arkansas.
Grace Billhartz is an undergraduate student in the Class of 2025 at the University of Notre Dame. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Pre-Professional Studies with minors in Compassionate Care in Medicine and Poverty Studies, and intends on going to medical school after graduation. Grace's interest and passion for global health led her to join the REDI-NET team in the Fall of 2022. She currently works on tick imaging and identification in the Achee/Grieco laboratory, and she is excited to become more involved in the lab in the coming semesters.
Grace Steffen is a student at the University of Notre Dame with the class of 2025 majoring in the Biological Sciences with minors in Accountancy and Compassionate Care in Medicine. Grace plans to attend medical school after graduation. She is a member of the Sorin Scholars Research Program and has worked as a research assistant at Notre Dame since Spring 2022. She joined the REDI-NET team in the Summer of 2022 where she currently works on tick imaging and identification in the laboratory. She is excited to pursue her own independent research project this Spring while continuing to assist in the Achee/Grieco lab.
Job Titles:
- Research Scientist With the REDI - NET
Griphin Ochieng is a Research Scientist with the REDI-NET in Kenya. His research interest is on the identification and characterization of zoonotic pathogens in wild animals and at the human-wildlife livestock interface, molecular epidemiology and interspecies infection mechanisms of zoonotic pathogens.
Job Titles:
- Naval Medical Research Center ( NMRC ) Research Scientist
Hsiao-Me Liao, PhD, is a Research Scientist in Rickettsial Disease Laboratory, Naval Medical Research Center. She joined the REDI-NET program in April 2021 and led the development of sample processing and testing SOPs as well as the workflow of sequencing data analysis. She completed her PhD training in the field of molecular genetics. During the time as a postdoctoral fellow at US FDA, her research focused on using high-throughput sequencing to identify microbes that affect the safety of human tissue-derived products. She also utilized the approaches of comparative genomics and transcriptomics and characterized infectious agents such as Zika virus, Epstein-Barr virus, and several bacteria as well as transcriptomic changes in the hosts.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Data Management Team
- Director, Center for Research Computing
- Founding Director of the Center for Research Computing
Jarek Nabrzyski is the founding director of the Center for Research Computing at Notre Dame (CRC), and a concurrent professor of Computer Science and Engineering. His research is focused on distributed ledger technologies and quantum computing. In the CRC, he directs the Quantum Computing Lab and, together with Ian Taylor, co-directs the Blockchain Research Lab. He enjoys building and managing teams and engaging in complex science and industry collaborations. He has been a Principal Investigator on over 50 national and international research and development projects developing cyberinfrastructure for both science and industry.
While in REDI-NET as part of the program modeling team, Jennifer K. Peterson's efforts were primarily dedicated to developing models to predict emerging pathogens and disease risks. Jennifer has worked on several projects throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, including entomological surveillance in Arequipa, Peru (in association with the University of Pennsylvania); effects of anthropogenic environmental change on infectious disease transmission in Panama (Gorgas Institute); vector-parasite interactions in Medellin, Colombia (University of Antioquia); and emerging vector-borne disease eco-epidemiology in Trinidad and Tobago (University of the West Indies). Jennifer was a founding member of the Chagas disease team for the NTD modeling consortium (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation).
In addition to her fascination for all things related to infectious diseases, Jennifer is passionate about effective communication through writing, making science accessible to everyone, and mentoring young researchers. She received her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University. Jennifer is currently a Research Assistant Professor in the Biological Sciences Department at the University of Notre Dame.
Job Titles:
- Principal Investigator
- Research Professor
John Grieco is a Research Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. Prior to joining Notre Dame's faculty, John earned a BS from Notre Dame, a MS from Texas A&M University, and a PhD from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, where he later served as Associate Professor in the Division of Tropical Public Health.
John currently manages a multidisciplinary research program with a focus on the biology, ecology, and transmission of vector-borne illnesses. He has a long history of working in the tropics on diseases such as malaria, Japanese Encephalitis, and Dengue, and he maintains active collaborations with researchers in several Asian and South American countries. John's research focuses on the design of novel repellents, irritants, and toxicants for disease vector control and he has developed field and laboratory assays for identifying and optimizing behavior-modifying compounds for use in the control of mosquito, sand fly, and triatome vectors.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Data Management Team
- Associate Research Programmer
- CRC As an Associate Research Programmer
Joseph Venanzio joined the CRC as an associate research programmer in 2022. He is a contributing member of the Velocity Raptors software development team. His previous employment amplified his skills in the areas of Program Engineering and Full Stack development. He graduated with a Bachelor's in Computer Science from Indiana University, South Bend in May 2020.
Kara Linder is a recent graduate at the University of Notre Dame majoring in Environmental Sciences and minoring in Anthropology. She has been a member of the Achee-Grieco laboratory since Fall 2021. Her research includes tick identification and other projects focused around the REDI-NET program. She has previous experience working on mosquito identification for the Museum of Biodiversity at Notre Dame and in the Tank laboratory focusing on agricultural stream run-off.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Data Management Team
- Associate Research Programmer
Kinsey Poland joined the Center for Research Computing in October 2020 and the REDI-NET program in 2022. She is a contributing member of the Velocity Raptors software development team. Her previous employment was as a web developer in the Office of Online Learning at the University of Georgia, her alma mater. She has a Bachelor of Science in Astrophysics.
Job Titles:
- Principal Investigator
- Professor
Kyle Bibby is a Professor at the University of Notre Dame in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences. He completed his BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Notre Dame and PhD in Environmental Engineering from Yale University and was previously an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh. He currently leads multiple research projects investigating microbial water quality and microbial communities in the built and natural environment through the Genomics & Environmental Research in Microbiology (GERM) Lab. Dr. Bibby is a registered Professional Engineer in Illinois.
Job Titles:
- Undergraduate Research Assistant
Margaret Elliott is a Class of 2022 graduate from the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelor of Science in Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics with a Biology concentration and a French minor. As an undergraduate, she worked in the Perkins lab at Notre Dame, where she worked with graduate student Annaliese Wieler on projects modeling clinical trials of mosquito-based interventions for dengue. During her time in REDI-NET, Margaret was part of the mathematical modeling team, where she helped develop and maintain in-country biohazard reports and completed in-country literature searches for epidemiological human case data to inform mathematical models.
Job Titles:
- Program Staff Member
- Research Program Manager
Maria Dahn serves as the Research Program Manager providing programmatic and administrative support to the REDI-NET team and its activities in the United States, Africa, and South America. She has been with the University of Notre Dame since 2015, where she has held roles in IT Project Management, Research Program Management, and Development and has been responsible for complex, comprehensive, multi-million dollar program management. Prior to working at the University, Maria led many projects for academic institutions, private and non-profit organizations. Maria holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh and the following professional certifications: Project Management Institute Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Scrum Master (CSM), and Prosci Certified Change Practitioner.
Job Titles:
- Program Staff Member
- Research Program Coordinator
Magaña Cansino is a Research Program Coordinator providing management and administrative support to REDI-NET activities. Before coming to Notre Dame, she worked at the Belize Vector and Ecology Center, where she assisted in managing and coordinating various research activities and collaborated with multiple international researchers and scientists. Marla has experience in various aspects of entomological research, including field data collection, entomological surveillance, and laboratory analyses.
Marla has a Bachelor's Degree in Biology from the University of Belize and is a 2023 graduate of Notre Dame's Keough School, where she obtained a Master's Degree in Global Affairs and a minor in International Peace Studies.
Job Titles:
- Consortium Partner
- Mpala Research Centre Partners
Job Titles:
- Lab Technician
- Program Staff Member
- Lab Technician for the REDI - NET
Michele Adams is a lab technician for the REDI-NET program in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame. In this role, Michele helps to manage the undergraduate and graduate students working in the laboratory and assists in the extraction of total nucleic acid, sequencing of gDNA/cDNA from various sample types, and analysis of the data.
Michele received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Notre Dame and a BSMT degree from Old Dominion University. Prior to joining the team at Notre Dame, Michele was an Operations Supervisor at Mayo Clinic Health Systems in Mankato, MN.
Job Titles:
- Undergraduate and Graduate Research Assistant
Miriam Grady is a recent graduate of Notre Dame having majored in Science-Business. She is continuing her education at Indiana University Medical School in South Bend. Her previous research endeavors include internships at a clinical research lab and a biotechnology corporation. Her interest in epidemiology and global health led her to join the REDI-NET team, for which she has contributed to since Fall 2021. Outside of the laboratory, Miriam is on the UND varsity fencing team.
Mr. Alex Potter is part of a team managing an interactive disease vector mapping website (vectormap.si.edu) while also curating specimens of the National arthropod collections housed at the Smithsonian Institution (NMNH). This team preserves valuable data associated with museum specimens, scientific literature, and ongoing field collections to inform vector borne disease risk mitigation strategies.
Mr. Potter currently provides technical assistance for the reorganization and reclassification of the United States National Museum (USNM) Culicoides collection as well as the larger Ceratopogonidae family. He began as a College Qualified Leaders (CQL) student in the summer of 2017, returning to WRBU after his graduation from Kalamazoo College in 2018, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in biology. Mr. Potter's senior thesis research (completed at WRBU), focused on climate change and arbovirus dynamics. His recent research interests include the standardization of entomological surveillance data, the digitization of museum specimens, and mapping with GIS.
Nick Parten is a student at the University of Notre Dame with the class of 2025. He is majoring in Science Pre-Professional Studies with a minor in Compassionate Care in Medicine and plans to attend medical school after graduation. Nick has worked as a research assistant here at Notre Dame since the fall of 2022, and his interests in global health and epidemiology brought him to join the REDI-NET team in the spring of 2024. He will work on pathogen surveillance from environmental and animal samples using Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) in the Achee-Grieco laboratory. Nick is excited to continue his involvement with the lab throughout the upcoming semesters.
Job Titles:
- Lead Principal Investigator
- Member of the the WHO Pesticide Evaluation Scheme
Nicole L. Achee, PhD, is a Medical Entomologist (Research Associate Professor) within the Department of Biological Sciences and holds a joint Associate Professor appointment in the Eck Institute for Global Health at the University of Notre Dame. She has a combined 20 years of experience in vector behavior research related to the epidemiology and control of arthropod-borne diseases, including evaluation of vector ecology, habitat management and adult control strategies, disease risk modeling using GIS and remote sensing technologies, and evaluation of chemical actions against mosquito vectors under both laboratory and field conditions. She has worked in the international settings of Belize, Indonesia, Mexico, Nepal, Peru, South Korea, Suriname, Tanzania and Thailand. Achee was the principal investigator of a research program funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation focused on the development of spatial repellents for use in combination push-pull systems to reduce human-vector contact for dengue prevention. She is currently a PI for a trial to generate evidence of the protective efficacy of spatial repellents for prevention of malaria and dengue for use towards full WHO recommendations. Achee is also currently serving as the Scientific Director for a Unitaid-funded program implementing three clinical trials in Mali, Kenya and Sri Lanka to further inform spatial repellent global health policies and the lead PI for Department of Defense funded program focused on creating a system-of-systems for infectious disease risk prediction.
Achee has served as a Working Group member for the WHO Pesticide Evaluation Scheme (WHOPES), a Board Member and the Past-Chair of the American Committee of Medical Entomology (ACME) of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), is currently member of the WHO Global Collaboration for the Development of Pesticides for Public Health partnership (GCDPP), a Vector Control Working Group representative of Roll Back Malaria and served as the lead scientist for the WHO Guidelines for Efficacy Testing of Spatial Repellents. Her latest efforts have been serving as partner in the Worldwide Insecticide Resistance Network (WIN) and a Committee member for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine study: Gene Drives on the Horizon: Advancing Science, Navigating Uncertainty, and Aligning Research with Public Values. Achee co-directs the Belize Vector and Ecology Center (BVEC) which serves as a local platform of excellence for research, training and education in public health.
Reid Moorman is a member of the Class of 2026 as a Neuroscience and Behavior major/Pre-med track. He joined the REDI-NET team as an undergraduate research assistant in the Fall of 2023. His interests include infectious diseases from a global health perspective and developing research skills in the lab. Reid also volunteers with Beacon Health System in South Bend, IN and serves on the University's Student Government as a member of the Sophomore Class Council.
Job Titles:
- Consortium Partner
- Mpala Research Centre past Partner
Robert Poon is a first-year PhD student at the University of Notre Dame. He pursued BSs in International Business Management and Biotechnology from Utah Valley University. Prior to beginning his PhD, he worked in both academia and industry studies on the effectiveness of established and innovative cardiometabolic health interventions by implementing clinical trials in humans and mouse models. Robert is interested in metabolism, aging, nutrition, autophagy, and metabolic research to further understand general health.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Data Management Team
- Senior Research Programmer and Product Owner
Robert Wieck joined the Center for Research Computing in 2014. Throughout his career at the CRC, he has been a Senior Research Programmer and Product Owner for projects such as VectorBase, VectorByte, VectorMap, VEuPathDB, and REDI-NET. Robert holds a bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Grand Valley State University and 2 Computer Science certificates from Indiana University South Bend.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Data Management Team
- Lead Research Programmer
Samuel Njoroge joined the Center for Research Computing as an intern in 2010. In his current role as lead research programmer, his focus is on full stack development and supporting development stacks and tools. Njoroge holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from Indiana University South Bend and a master's degree from the University of Notre Dame.
Job Titles:
- Lead Modeler
- Research Assistant Professor
Sean Moore is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame. His research is focused on combining surveillance and modeling approaches to understand how socioeconomic, climatic, and ecological drivers influence the epidemiology of water-borne and vector-borne pathogens. His research specialties include integrating ecological and climatic variables into mechanistic and statistical models to explain infectious disease dynamics and predict future transmission dynamics. His current research is focused on the epidemiology of cholera, chikungunya, and Zika.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Data Management Team
- Associate Research Programmer
Shaun Whitfield started at the CRC as an intern and later joined the team as a full-time developer. He graduated from Indiana University, South Bend, with a Bachelor's in computer science. Before coming to the CRC, Shaun worked in IT for a non-profit called Church World Service and volunteered as an instructor for the South Bend Code School, where he taught introductory web design to kids and teenagers.
Shaun grew up in the area and resides in Mishawaka with his wife and two daughters. In his spare time, Shaun enjoys all kinds of games and spending time with his family.
Stacy Mowry is a third-year PhD student in the Perkins lab at the University of Notre Dame. Prior to beginning her PhD, she pursued BAs in Mathematics and Hispanic Studies from Vassar College and an MS in Biomathematics from Illinois State University. She also worked at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies as the Data Specialist on The Tick Project. Stacy is interested in integrating vector, microbe, and climate interactions into tick-borne disease models to better understand transmission dynamics and human risk.