Stephanie Zapata is a third year Ph.D. candidate in the Entomology program at Rutgers University studying Culicoides biting midge diversity in New Jersey, and assessing their vector (disease) capacity. Stephanie is a first-generation Colombian/American college and graduate student. She first became interested in pursuing science as a career while doing independent research at Bergen Community College (Paramus, NJ) studying the native bee diversity near the college campus, as well as assessing the microbial communities of Luna moth caterpillar fecal material. She later transferred to Montclair State University (Montclair, NJ) to complete her Bachelor's degree in Biology, and Master's degree in Molecular Biology studying single-stranded DNA aptamers and their ability to detect Ranavirus. Throughout Stephanie's academic journey she has taken part of a broad diversity of research projects that helped her to develop multiple skills necessary to become a well-rounded scientist.