West Nile Research Project at Aaniiih Nakoda College
Project Leader: Dan Kinsey, Aaniiih Nakoda College
Mentors: Grant Hokit, Carroll College and Greg Johnson and Allen Harmsen, MSU

 

 

Aaniiih Nakoda College (ANC) is a tribally controlled community college located on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in north-central Montana. Fort Belknap is the home of the Gros Ventre (Ah- Ah-Ni-Nin) and Assiniboine (Nakoda) Tribes. Approximately ninety-five percent of the students of ANC are American Indian, and a majority of the students who attend ANC live within a fifty mile radius and drive to and from school. Natural science programs include Allied Health and Natural Resources. At the start of this grant year, ANC faculty and students have worked with Dr. Greg Johnson of Montana State University and Dr. D. Grant Hokit of Carroll College on a West Nile virus research project in an unfunded capacity. This work has mostly involved mosquito trapping for identification and analysis for West Nile virus. Aaniiih Nakoda College will now expand its current West Nile virus research activities through collaboration in a regional partnership involving five institutions: Montana State University, Carroll College, Chief Dull Knife College, Little Big Horn College, and Aaniiih Nakoda College.