A combination of luck, timing, and opportunitism has led to a fruitful collaboration with Allan Showler of the UDSA-ARS Livestock Entomology Laboratory. We have been investigating novel inexpensive, environmentally friendly chemicals for their efficacy in controlling tick populations. The Texas cattle industry, especially in counties that border Mexico, is potentially directly impacted by this work as part of efforts to keep cattle fever and the cattle-fever spreading ticks under control, despite threats from increasing pesticide resistance, climate change, and other ways that ticks can be moved across the border such as via native and introduced wildlife. This research avenue is especially well-suited for undergraduates as it requires minimal training and experiments typically last only a few days. This work resulted in six publications with student coauthors over a two-year span so far, though it has been on hold due to the covid pandemic and a subsequent renovation of the USDA facility in Kerrville.