Born and raised in Middleville, Shannon Hamilton has always loved the outdoors. That’s part of what drew her to pursue a master’s degree in environmental health sciences from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. “I’m very interested in how environmental exposures during our lifetime influence our health,” she said.
And when it was time to look for an internship, she was naturally drawn to opportunities that had field work. “I really wanted to be outside and in nature, to get back to my roots,” Hamilton said.
That, paired with her interest in reproductive health, made one opportunity a perfect fit. She spent this past summer doing mosquito surveillance with Washtenaw County Public Health, looking into whether certain species of mosquitoes that can carry and transmit the Zika virus had made their way to Washtenaw County. Fortunately, based on her analysis, they hadn’t.
