Achievement

Trainee Micah Hahn’s dissertation examines the relationship between fruit bat (Petropus) ecology and the distribution of Nipah virus, a potentially deadly infection. She successfully defended her dissertation in February and will be submitting three manuscripts for publication. She presented two chapters at professional conferences this year: "Understanding the impact of landscape on Pteropus roost selection and Nipah virus dynamics in Bangladesh" at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in Atlanta, GA, and "Roosting behavior and habitat selection of Pteropus giganteus in Bangladesh" at the U.S. Regional Association of the International Association for Landscape Ecology in Austin, TX. Her work on Nipah virus in Bangladesh explicitly reflects our IGERT themes of understanding sustainability and vulnerability in linked human natural systems. It required collaboration among epidemiologists, anthropologists, statisticians, and veterinarians, all from outside of UW-Madison.