In partnership with the International Center for Energy, Environment and Sustainability (INCEES) as well as Here and Next

Washington University Faculty Panel | Keynote Presentation | Reception to follow

Shannon LaDeau is a community and disease ecologist at Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY. Her research program integrates empirical and model-based work to develop predictive and mechanistic understanding of how species interactions, abiotic filters, and environmental stochasticity influence community function in real (often urban) landscapes. Her current work emphasizes data-model integration approaches for forecasting tick and mosquito vector abundances, traits, and associated human risk. LaDeau received her PhD at Duke University and completed a NSF Bioinformatics Postdoctoral Fellowship with the Smithsonian Institution and the Ohio State University before joining the Cary Institute in 2008.

WashU Panel:

• Kim Medley, Director of Tyson Research Center (Moderator)
• Teresa Gildner, Assistant Professor of Biological Anthropology
• Rachel Penczykowski, Assistant Professor of Biology
• Sharon Deem, Wildlife Veterinarian and Epidemiologist

Keynote: Vector-borne disease (VBD) is a growing risk to urban communities across the globe. Rising cases of mosquito-borne viruses such as dengue, Zika and chikungunya in temperate cities highlight critical gaps in understanding of how interacting ecological and socio-economic conditions influence VBD risk in complex, seasonal landscapes. Our multidisciplinary research team explores important trends and mechanisms explaining changing mosquito-human exposure in Baltimore City, MD (USA). Our results show how legacies of race-based investment continue to influence variability in mosquito abundances and human exposure, and that interacting poverty and climate forces can affect mosquito traits that are important to fitness and viral transmission. Finally, we explore how changing climate and urban greening efforts continuously refine the heterogeneous riskscape of VBD in temperate cities and consider relevant scales of predictability and management potential.

This year’s Climate Change Speaker Series is supported by the Office of the Provost and WashU’s ten-year strategic vision, Here and Next, designed to mobilize research, education, and patient care to establish WashU and St. Louis as a global hub for transformative solutions to the deepest societal challenges. When we bring our community together around topics that expand our knowledge and our perspectives, we stimulate the open, vibrant environment that will make our strategic vision possible.

Find out more on our Speaker Series page.