August 2026 Spotlight (Keiana Briscoe)

Keiana Briscoe, Second year PhD student

About me: I moved to Ohio in 2016, so I have been here for ten years now! I am in the Environmental Sciences Graduate Program, and I am advised by Dr. Megan Meuti.

Research: My research investigates the seasonal and regional prevalence of West Nile virus in mosquitoes in Ohio. Hopefully, uncovering new trends in the transmission of WNV will help public health agencies adequately prepare and prevent outbreaks. This summer, I presented a poster on my first-year research at the Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases Conference.

Get to know me!

1. What is your favorite random fact?

Currently, my favorite random fact is that there is a group of Chimpanzees in Uganda that have been fighting for almost ten years. Researchers have referred to it as a civil war because the monkeys were originally peaceful neighbors within the same national park.

2. If your pet could talk, what do you think they might say about you?

My cats would probably say I talk about them too much. I’m constantly stopping them from engaging in shenanigans, so they might also tell me to mind my business.

3. If you didn’t have any responsibilities, how would you spend your days?

Without responsibilities, I would spend my days indulging in impulsivity. I would practice my creative interests like painting, knitting and baking. I would play Stardew Valley, go hiking more often, and read all the books. That is not my reality, so I try to balance creative impulse and responsibility.

Wishing you all the best with your mosquito research! I hope your work leads to some interesting and meaningful findings that will help us better understand WNV transmission and protect public health. Hopefully, I’ll see you around the Department of Entomology and the Environmental Sciences Graduate Program often! 😊

Editor: Dahee Ahn