PITTSBURG, Kan. — Pittsburg State University biology students are working alongside an associate professor this summer to research tick-borne diseases — the leading vector-borne diseases and among the most pressing public health issues in the nation — by surveying Crawford County and Anderson County, Kansas, as part of the state’s annual tick surveillance program. Associate professor Anu Ghosh and her students have conducted field and lab research for seven years, but this year is special. “Our research activities caught the attention of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, and we received a contractual research project for this year to carry out surveillance in parks and recreational areas, and to detect pathogen load in this tick population,” Ghosh said.