Since 2020, MEGA:BITESS has trained middle and high school educators across Tennessee to help bring entomology and geospatial science curriculums to their classrooms. Through this effort, MEGA:BITESS introduces youth to STEM career fields and raises awareness of La Crosse virus, an arbovirus that adversely affects children neurologically.
Through MEGA:BITESS academy, educators are trained to develop hands-on classroom research projects with a focus on mosquitoes and La Crosse virus as an innovative way to facilitate youth interest in STEM fields through classroom learning. Students are introduced to fun and useful projects to pique their interest in entomology and geospatial sciences with the goal to attract them to the workforce for STEM-related careers.
MEGA:BITESS also works with the community by helping identify areas of mosquito occurrence, increasing local awareness of La Crosse and mosquito-borne diseases, educating on medical entomology to improve surveillance of mosquitoes, and improving science communication with the community.
