RIT RISE Research Experiences

During my freshman year at RIT, I applied for a research program called the Rochester Institute of Technology Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement, which aims to prepare Deaf and hard of hearing students for graduate school, as there are few Deaf and hard of hearing scientists, especially those with PhDs. I was accepted, and I am currently doing research with Dr. Kaitlin Stack Whitney. I have also had numerous other oppurtunities thanks to this program, such as having the chance to listen to

With Dr. Kaitlin Stack Whitney, I continued my research from the HHMI Inclusive Excellence program, and created models focusing on specific macroinvertebrate taxon to see if there were any correlations with environmental variables. I focused on applying GIS skills to my research by running exploratory regression models and experimented with watershed data. I am currently focusing on a new research project with collaborators from Kent State University, where I am focusing on running a time series analysis on long term Ixodes scapularis abundance data.