Event Calendar
Abstract: Professor Meyers will discuss global pandemics, why influenza remains a major threat, and how mathematical modeling has been combined with high performance computing to improve disease surveillance, forecasting and intervention.
Bio: Lauren Ancel Meyers has B.A. in Mathematics and Philosophy from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Stanford University. She is a Full Professor in the Section of Integrative Biology and the Director of the Division of Statistics and Scientific Computation at The University of Texas at Austin. She also serves as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Santa Fe Institute. Lauren has developed new network-based mathematical methods to study the interplay between disease transmission dynamics, human behavior, and the evolution of pathogens including those responsible for epidemic meningitis, HIV, influenza, walking pneumonia, and SARS. Her research has been published in over 50 peer-reviewed publications and funded by research grants from National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the James S. McDonnell Foundation. The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, the BBC, and others have highlighted her work, and a number of government agencies have sought Lauren’s expertise, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), and the US National Intelligence Council. In 2004, the MIT Technology Review named Lauren as one of the top 100 global innovators under age 35.
Free and open to the public.