Dr. Cassandra Pauling
Baccalaureate Adjunct Faculty
Cassandra Pauling
Credentials
Ph.D. in Molecular Pathogenesis and Therapeutics, M.S. in Biology
Dr. Dawn (Cassandra) Pauling received her Ph.D. in Molecular Pathogenesis and Therapeutics from the University of Missouri and M.S. in Biology from the University of Central Missouri. Dawn has researched diseases in wildlife for 14 years since she began her career as an intern in Wildlife Veterinary Services for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. For her M.S., she determined stress levels and parasite loads in an endangered species, the Scimitar-horned oryx, in varied captive environments. For her Ph.D., she investigated the molecular and ecological mechanisms that influence the transmission of Yersinia pestis by the flea vector. Her research interests are wildlife and vector-borne diseases, and she utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to investigate diseases including ecological field techniques, wildlife trapping and handling, disease surveillance, molecular techniques, and microbiology. Her recent research on sylvatic plague analyzed bacterial genes, host bloodmeals, vector competency, environmental factors, edaphic factors, and their association with vector competency. Throughout her education and career, she has conducted more than 500 necropsies on a diversity of wildlife ranging from large carnivores including grizzly bears and wolves, large herbivores including moose, deer, and caribou, to mesocarnivores within the Midwest including coyotes, fox, raccoons, and more. In addition, she has maintained active field research involving surveillance of ticks and tick-borne diseases. Dr. Pauling has been teaching in academia for 9 years and has taught a diversity of courses. Her main teaching focus is on Ecology, Wildlife Disease, Comparative Anatomy, and Microbiology.
