Many pest populations are regulated by density-dependent factors. One example of this is in the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, where larval survival is affected by intraspecific larval competition. 
Gene drives are any natural or artificial mechanism of spreading a genetic ‘cargo’ into a target population. Gene drives are introduced by the release of genetically modified (transgenic) organisms carrying the cargo gene. These genes almost always inflict a fitness cost on transgenic organisms, underlying a balance between the spread of the gene drive and the cost it imposes. 
Dr. Max Scott’s lab at NC State is developing gene drives in the invasive fruit fly, Drosophila suzukii, better known as spotted wing Drosophila or SWD. 
During the summer of 2023, I collected nearly 1000 Aedes albopictus mosquitoes from 31 different residential locations across the city of Raleigh with the goal of determining the present extent of insecticide resistance. 
A collaborative project with the goal of mathematically modeling the opioid epidemic at the state level and using the results to inform directions of control.