Dr. Ebel received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota in 1993 and his doctorate from the Harvard School of Public Health in 2000. After working as a research scientist in the New York State Health Department’s Wadsworth Center, he moved to the University of New Mexico to start his independent lab. He currently is a professor in the department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University. He also has been the director of the Center for Vector-borne Infectious Diseases since 2014. Current research in his laboratory focuses on arthropod-borne flaviviruses and virus surveillance and monitoring.  Ongoing studies examine the evolutionary implications of virus-host interactions using West Nile, Zika and Powassan viruses as models. In particular, his laboratory is interested in the roles of host switching, climate change and coinfection on the strength and type of natural selection that occurs within different hosts. In addition, the role of stochastic forces in negating selection during virus transmission is being investigated. Applied studies are developing new vaccines for tick-borne encephalitis viruses and conducting surveillance and monitoring for our communities in Northern Colorado. Research in the Ebel laboratory is funded by the US National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Defense.