How being a Researcher can Inform Teaching
Click to listen to the podcast with Dr. Neeta Connally
Neeta Pardanani Connally is an associate professor in the Dept. of Biological & Environmental Sciences at Western Connecticut State University (WCSU), where she oversees the WCSU Tickborne Disease Prevention Laboratory. Trained as a medical entomologist, her research focuses upon backyard ecology and prevention of Lyme and other tick-associated diseases in the northeastern United States. Some of Neeta’s recent projects have evaluated integrated tick management tactics for preventing tick bites, assessed the effectiveness of tick-repellent clothing, and investigated the role of human behavior in peridomestic tickborne disease risk.
Neeta’s research has been funded by federal grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and she has been a CDC TickNET project contributor in partnership with the Connecticut Emerging Infections Program since 2007. Neeta served on the U.S. Health and Human Services Tick-Borne Disease Working Group as a member of the Tick Biology, Ecology, and Control Subcommittee in 2019, and as a member of the Disease Vectors, Surveillance, and Prevention subcommittee in 2018. She was also appointed
to the Science and Technology Committee of the 2020 CT Governor’s Council on Climate Change.
Neeta has been recognized for her research and outreach efforts, receiving the Connecticut State University Board of Regents system-wide Faculty Research Award in 2020, the Connecticut Campus Compact Community Engaged Scholar Award in 2015, and the Connecticut State University Board of Regents Faculty Research Award for WCSU in 2014. She holds a B.S. in animal biology from Louisiana Tech University, a Master of Science in Public Health from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and a Ph.D. from the University of Rhode Island. Prior to joining the WCSU faculty, Neeta was an Associate Research Scientist at the Yale School of Public Health.
