The main objective of this project is to analyze and display data collected passively through our tick testing service. Part of our mandate as a company is to to publish tick and tick-borne disease surveillance data yearly based on data collected from ticks submitted to our laboratory for testing. This data includes spatial and temporal information about where and when ticks were encountered, what activities users were engaged in when they encountered the ticks, the types of pathogens detected in each tick, and which demographics are disproportionately affected. In previous years, this data has been analyzed and displayed using accessible tools such as Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Powerpoint) and Google MyMaps. This year, we are looking to improve the data analysis and presentation by using more powerful statistical and GIS tools. Previous examples of this work can be seen on our website at https://www.geneticks.ca/tick-testing-statistics/.

• Clean up passively collected tick and tick-borne pathogen data so that it can be imported into statistical and GIS programs for analysis.
• Identify GIS coordinates associated with user input recovery locations.
• Identify provincial public health units for all GIS coordinates.
• Analyze tick and tick-borne pathogen data using Microsoft Office (or an equivalent or superior program). These analyses include calculating pathogen prevalence, determining tick species composition in our sample, exploring the temporal distribution of tick activity periods, and identifying human activities and demographics that are at an elevated risk for contacting ticks and their pathogens.
• Create maps that display recovery locations of ticks submitted for testing. These maps should have the ability to toggle information so that users can define and visualize the information that is important to them. Examples of information that can be toggled on/off are: Tick species, pathogens profile, and geographic distribution.

We will provide one-on-one training as needed for participating students. Training will be provided by an experienced member of our team that has worked on this project previously. We will provide participating students with access to the appropriate data sets (all sensitive and protected data will be removed prior to sharing). Any templates which have been used in the past will also be made accessible to participating students. Additionally, students will be given editor access to our wordpress site to build out the data displays on our website. An experienced member from our team will always be available during standard work hours (9am - 5pm) to assist with training and answer questions. Participating students are able to work outside of these hours if it suits their schedule.