As one of five recipients of a CDC Fellowship in Vector-Borne Disease at Yale University, Brandon traveled to San Juan, Puerto Rico to spend a week studying Dengue Fever at the CDC Dengue Research Lab.

During the week, the group, which consisted of 10 doctoral and masters students from the Departments of Epidemiology and Public Health and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology listened to presentations on the ecology, epidemiology, and entomology of Dengue, met with local mosquito control officials, and learned to trap and identify mosquitoes. As a part of the week's program
Brandon presented his doctoral research to the staff of the CDC lab and students from the University of Puerto Rico.

On Saturday, March 22nd, the group planned to spend the day snorkeling and swimming near Fajardo, a town on the northeast coast of the island. It was here that Brandon drowned while rescuing another student who was caught in the strong current.

Puerto Rico