OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE VIRGINIA MOSQUITO CONTROL ASSOCIATION
Student Competition Committee - Annual Poster Competition
2024-2025 Student Poster Competition
Our 9th annual student poster competition was held February 4-6, 2025 at the Virginia Mosquito Control Association and Mid-Atlantic Mosquito Control Association’s combined Annual Conference at the Marriott City Center in Newport News, Virginia.
** Students eligible for the competition must be enrolled in a degree program during the fall semester of 2024 from an accredited college or university within the Mid-Atlantic region.**
Eligibility for Poster Submission:
Poster submissions will be accepted from students enrolled in colleges and universities of Virginia, its neighboring states, and now states of the Mid-Atlantic region: Virginia, Delaware, Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Washington DC.
Prizes:
1st place: $500
2nd place poster: $300
3rd place poster: $200
Top poster submitter will receive the opportunity to present their research during the VMCA Annual Conference on February 5, 2025 (In-person or virtually).
Top five posters will receive free registration to the 2025 VMCA/MAMCA Annual
Conference.
Deadline:
All poster submissions should be submitted by email no later than 11:59PM on 12/4/2024.
Submissions:
Poster submissions should follow the guidelines set forth in the 2024-2025 Guidelines for student poster competition
Submission emails should include a PDF version of the poster (PDF file should be set to size/dimensions specified for printing) along with the 2024-2025 Submission form for the student poster competition fully filled out.
Submissions should be emailed to Jay Kiser at Jkiser@suffolkva.us
More information can be found at 2024-2025 VMCA Student Competition
Poster Evaluations:
Judges will grade posters based on the sections set forth in the 2024-2025 Judge's Evaluation Form for Student Competition
Submission Details
- Poster submissions should follow the guidelines set forth in the 2024-2025 Guidelines for Student Poster Competition.
- Submission emails should include a PDF version of the poster (PDF file should be set to size/dimensions specified for printing - see Guidelines for quick "how-to") along with the 2024-2025 Submission Form for Student Poster Competition fully filled out.
- Submissions should be emailed to VirginiaMosquito@Gmail.com
1st Place: Chekeyl Harold
2nd Place: Benjamin Burgunder
2nd Place: Benjamin Burgunder
School: Old Dominion University
Poster title: Attachment site preferences of various tick species on a human host: a four-year observational study
Award: Dr. Jorge Arias Student Competition Award, $500
2nd Place: Benjamin Burgunder
2nd Place: Benjamin Burgunder
2nd Place: Benjamin Burgunder
School: University of Maryland, College Park
Poster title: Untangling West Nile viral prevalence, look-alike mosquitoes, and unreliable models in Chicago, Illinois
Award: Student Competition Award, $300
3rd Place: Mara Heilig
2nd Place: Benjamin Burgunder
3rd Place: Mara Heilig
School: Georgetown University
Poster title: Knockdown of a lipid storage gene impacts triglyceride provisioning and desiccation resistance during overwinter dormancy in the vector mosquito Aedes albopictus
Award: Student Competition Award, $200
1st Place: Funmilayo Egunjobi
3rd Place: Jarin Taslem Mourosi
1st Place: Funmilayo Egunjobi
School: Duke University
Poster title: Identification of sodium channel mutations conferring pyrethroid resistance in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes
Award: Dr. Jorge Arias Student Competition Award, $500
2nd Place: Benjamin Burgunder
3rd Place: Jarin Taslem Mourosi
1st Place: Funmilayo Egunjobi
School: University of Maryland, College Park
Poster title: Site-specific community composition of primary West Nile virus vectors does not explain fine-scale variation in modeling human cases
Award: Student Competition Award, $300
3rd Place: Jarin Taslem Mourosi
3rd Place: Jarin Taslem Mourosi
3rd Place: Jarin Taslem Mourosi
School: Catholic University of America
Poster title: Zika and Dengue vaccine design by CRISPR engineering of T4 bacteriophage nanoparticle
Award: Student Competition Award, $200
1st Place: Sommer Stephens
1st Place: Sommer Stephens
1st Place: Sommer Stephens
School: North Carolina State University
Poster title: Allele frequencies of Culex pipiens bioforms vary across an urban to rural gradient
Award: Dr. Jorge Arias Student Competition Award, $500
2nd Place: Ayobami Awe
1st Place: Sommer Stephens
1st Place: Sommer Stephens
School: Catholic University of America
Poster title: Dengue vaccine design using bacteriophage T4 nanoparticle platform
Award: Student Competition Award, $300
3rd Place: Pallavi Rai
1st Place: Sommer Stephens
3rd Place: Pallavi Rai
School: Virginia Tech
Poster title: Insulin reduces alphavirus infection of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes by influencing vector immune pathways
Award: Student Competition Award, $200
2021-2022 Competition
Virginia Mosquito Control Association held our 6th annual student poster competition during the joint virtual / in-person annual VMCA conference, January 25-27, 2022 at Marriott City Center in Newport News, VA. Thank you to all the students who participated, judges who evaluated them, and all members who participated in the poster Q&A session, 50/50 raffle, and the silent auction. The SCC was able to raise over $1,000 for future awards! Thank you all for your support!
Congratulations to our 2022 winner, Rebecca Trimble of Virginia Tech for her poster titled, Pathogen spillover into the Asian longhorned tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis in Virginia. Pictured at right: 2021 VMCA President Tim DuBois (left) hands Rebecca Trimble (right) the Dr. Jorge Arias Student Competition Award and $500 check.
2020-2021 Competition
Virginia Mosquito Control Association held our 5th annual student poster competition during the virtual annual conference January 26-27, 2021. While the pandemic put a damper on our in-person student Q&A session and fundraising events, Na was still able to answer questions after her presentation and the SCC held two successful Tour de Skeeter bike events in fall 2020 and summer 2021. Thank you to all students, judges, and members who support the Student Competition!
Congratulations to our 2021 winner, Na Xie (pictured at left with check and award) from Virginia Tech for her poster titled, Muscarinic-selective target-site synergism as a new mosquito control strategy.
2019-2020 Competition
Virginia Mosquito Control Association held our 4th annual student poster competition during the annual VMCA conference in Virginia Beach, January 28-30, 2020. Thank you to all the students who participated, judges who evaluated them, and all members who participated in the poster Q&A session, 50/50 raffle, and the silent auction. The SCC was able to raise over $1,000 for future awards! Thank you all for your support!
Congratulations to our 2020 winner, Olivia Spencer of the College of William and Mary for her poster titled, Temporal and spatial variation of Erlichia chaffeensis in the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum).
Pictured at right: Olivia (left) receiving award from 2019 VMCA President LaToya White (right)
2018-2019 Competition
Virginia Mosquito Control Association held our 3rd annual student poster competition during the annual VMCA Conference in Virginia Beach, February 5-7, 2019. For the third year, the SCC held two successful fundraising events during the annual meeting: a 50/50 raffle and a silent auction. With the help of the SCC, VMCA members, and sustaining members, we were able to collect a total of $750. This money will be used to fund future competitions that encourage research in fields of vector biology.
Congratulations to our 2019 winner, Amanda DeVleeschower (pictured at left receiving award from 2018 VMCA President George Wojcik) from Old Dominion University for her poster titled, Tracking potential hosts of Amblyomma maculatum through wildlife cameras.
2017-2018 Competition
Virginia Mosquito Control Association held our 2nd annual student poster competition during the 71st annual VMCA conference in Portsmouth, January 23-25, 2018. For the second year, the SCC held two successful fundraising events during the annual meeting; a 50/50 raffle and a silent auction. With the help of the SCC, VMCA members, and sustaining members, we were able to collect a total of almost $1,400. Thank you to all the students who participated, judges who evaluated them, and all members who participated.
Congratulations to our 2018 winner, Laura Bitzer (pictured at right receiving award from 2017 VMCA President Jeff Hottenstein) of Old Dominion University for her poster titled, The role of northern short-tailed shrews in the maintenance of Borrelia burgdorferi.
