I have been studying the ecology of tick-borne disease since the summer of 2000, Much of this work has been in collaboration with Richard S. Ostfeld and others. Projects include investigating the relationship between Lyme disease and the composition of the community of hosts for the Lyme vector, the black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis) and  host relationships of another tick borne pathogen, Anaplasma phagocytophilum.  More recently, my students and I have studied how habitat restoration in the Albany Pine Bush Preserve impacts Lyme disease risk, how soil related characteristics affect the molting and survival of engorged black-legged ticks and whether stable isotope analysis can help us to determine the most important tick hosts.