Hi. I’m Carrie Wencel, a senior with the University of Nebraska’s Fisheries and Wildlife program. Over the summer of 2010, I worked with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (NDHHS) on their West Nile Virus Surveillance project through a grant with the University. In addition to survey work, I assisted a graduate student with her thesis research. I gained lab experience identifying, recording, and preparing mosquito samples from across the state to be tested for West Nile Virus. I also got to work in the field, setting up mosquito traps and taking field data with various tools. The most beneficial part was helping plan how to conduct data collection for the graduate thesis. This has already helped me when I prepared and conducted my own undergraduate thesis for a second major with Environmental Studies. Through this opportunity I was able to discover how much I enjoy working out in the field conducting research even if it’s in the middle of a Nebraska summer.