VT MathBio Seminar Page

All are welcome to join!

Upcoming Speakers

Fall 2024



• Todd L. Parsons, Sorbonne Université (in-person)
• Puzzles in the Persistence of Pathogens
• August 28, 2024


• Kyle Dahlin, Virginia Tech (in-person)
• A framework for integrating complex mosquito feeding behaviors into disease transmission models
• September 04, 2024


• Lauren Childs, Virginia Tech (in-person)
• Assessing the Impact of the Wolbachia-Based Control of Malaria
• September 11, 2024


• David Bortz, University of Colorado Boulder (virtual presentation with in-person viewing)
• The Surprising Robustness, Accuracy, and Computational Efficiency of Weak Form System Identification
• September 18, 2024


• Maurizio Porfiri, New York University (in-person)
• Scaling laws in living social systems
• Special Day and Time: Friday, October 4, 2024, 1:30-2:30 pm, 220 Williams Hall


• Lubna Pinky, Meharry Medical College (virtual presentation with in-person viewing)
• Modeling viral-viral coinfections of the respiratory tract
• October 16, 2024


• Joshua Macdonald, Johns Hopkins University (in-person)
• Impacts of host behavior and viral life-history on infectious disease transmission
• October 23, 2024


• Max Heldman, Virginia Tech (in-person)
• Numerical methods for particle-based stochastic reaction-diffusion systems with interaction potentials
• October 30, 2024


• Esra Büyüktahtakın Toy, Virginia Tech (in-person)
• TBA
• November 06, 2024


• Maria D’Orsogna, California State University, Northridge (in-person)
• Mathematical modeling of the neurobiology of drug addiction
• November 13, 2024


• Binod Pant, Northeastern University (in-person)
• TBA
• December 04, 2024

Past Speakers

Spring 2024

• Giulia Pullano, Georgetown University
• Integration of high-resolution mobility data into mathematical models for public health applications
• January 24, 2024


• Paul Huxley, Virginia Tech
• Trait-based approaches to predicting VBD transmission risk and understanding thermal adaptation in arthropods
• February 7, 2024


• Mario Julian Canon Ayala, Politécnico Grancolombiano
• Spatio-temporal analysis of suicide attempts in Colombia from 2018 to 2020
• February 21, 2024


• Alex Capaldi, James Madison University
• Agent-Based Model Predicts Rapid Evolution of Prehistoric Dogs from Wolves by Natural and Sexual Selection
• March 13, 2024


• Jessica Cunningham, Virginia Tech
• A Call for Integrated Metastatic Management of Prostate Cancer
• April 3, 2024


• Grant Doering, Arizona State University
• The evolution and functional implications of synchronized rhythms in ants
• April 10, 2024


• Xi Huo, University of Miami
• Antimicrobial De-escalation in Intensive Care Units: Implications on Clinical Trial Design Provided by Mathematical Models
• April 17, 2024


• Jyotishka Datta, Virginia Tech
• Postponed to Fall 2024
• April 24, 2024


• Oyita Udiani, Virginia Commonwealth University
• Predicting metabolic networks of early life microbiomes: Insights from game theory
• May 1, 2024

Fall 2023

• Leah LeJeune, Virginia Tech
• Cross-immunity and transmission influences in a multistrain host-pathogen cholera model
• September 6, 2023


• Summer Atkins, Louisiana State University
• Numerical Methods for Singular Control Problems in Mathematical Biology
• September 13, 2023


• Carrie Manore, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Climate Impacts on Infectious Diseases
• October 4, 2023


• Nicholas Kortessis, Wake Forest University
• Spatio-temporal heterogeneity in host behavior and its effect on the spread of human infectious disease
• October 11, 2023


• Rebecca Everett, Haverford College
• Modeling Frameworks that Integrate Disease and Ecosystem Ecology
• October 18, 2023


• Chadi Saad-Roy, University of California-Berkeley
• Modelling SARS-CoV-2 immuno-epidemiological dynamics
• November 1, 2023


• Valerie Welborn, Virginia Tech
• Modeling protein assemblies: the integration of information from the atomistic to the microscopic scale
• November 8, 2023


• Fernando Córdova, Universidad Católica del Maule
• The beta-SEIR approach for infectious disease modeling
• November 29, 2023


• Huaiyang Zhong, Virginia Tech
• From Practical Problems to Theory Development: Insights into Medical Decision Making
• December 6, 2023

Spring 2023

• Daniela Florez, Tulane University
• Modeling Sustained Transmission of Wolbachia among Anopheles Mosquitoes: Implications for Malaria Control in Haiti
• May 3, 2023


• Lindsey Fox, Eckerd College
• The effect of governance structures on optimal control of two-patch epidemic models
• April 26, 2023


• Williams Chukwu, Wake Forest University
• Can key factors contributing to Malaria transmission be controlled? A case study West Sumba Indonesia
• April 19, 2023


• Tim Phan, Los Alamos National Labs
• Integrating wastewater surveillance data with dynamic models to track and predict viral infections and beyond
• March 29, 2023


• Lorand Paradji, West Virginia University
• Mathematical Modeling and Control of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia: Advancing Strategies for Disease Understanding and Treatment Optimization
• March 22, 2023


• Juan Gutierrez, University of Texas, San Antonio
• The struggle to find a balance between mathematics and biology in multi-scale modeling
• March 15, 2023


• Noah Silva de Leonardi, Oregon State University
• Epidemic dynamics with structural variation in individual reproductive number
• March 1, 2023


• Padmanabhan Seshaiyer, George Mason University
• Predicting transmission dynamics of infectious diseases through efficient data-driven approaches
• February 22, 2023


• Wes Cain, Harvard University
• The Valveless, Tubular Hearts of Tunicates
• February 15, 2023


• Nora Heitzman-Breen, Department of Mathematics, Virginia Tech
• Modeling within-host and aerosol dynamics of SARS-CoV-2: the relationship with infectiousness
• Quiyana Murphy, Department of Mathematics, Virginia Tech
• Understanding neutrophil dynamics during COVID-19 infection
• February 8, 2023

Fall 2022

• Tijs Alleman, Ghent University
• Extending Compartmental Models During the Covid-19 Epidemic: Lessons Learned from Two Years of Perpetual Model Development
• December 7, 2022


• Amanda Laubmeier, Department of Mathematics, Texas Tech University
• Competition between two species with seasonal birth and intraguild predation
• November 30, 2022


• Rosemary Aogo, National Institutes of Health
• Modeling the effect of re-exposure to flaviviruses on epidemic dynamics
• November 16, 2022


• Christopher Strickland, Department of Mathematics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
• Using mechanistic models to advance theory in opioid use disorder epidemiology
• November 9, 2022


• Daniel Cortes, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Virginia Tech
• Contractile ring composition dictates kinetics of in silico contractility
• November 2, 2022


• Tingting Tang, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, San Diego State University Imperial Valley
• Identifiability of compartment model for infectious diseases under both perfect and flawed data
• October 26, 2022


• Baltazar Espinoza, Network Systems Science and Advanced Computing, University of Virginia
• Modeling social complexity in epidemiology: adaptive human behavior and unequal living conditions
• October 5, 2022


• Navid Ghaffarzadegan, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech
• Enhancing long-term forecasting: Learning from COVID-19 models
• September 14, 2022


• Zhisheng Shuai, Department of Mathematics, University of Central Florida
• Impact of Hotspot Arrangements on Disease Invasion
• August 31, 2022

Spring 2022

• Bahareh Bekham, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech
• Engineering Bacteria-based MicroRobotic Swarms for Cancer Therapy
• May 4, 2022


• Atanaska Dobreva, School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences, Arizona State University
• Analysis of ordinary and partial differential equation models for autoimmune hair loss and retinal metabolism
• April 27, 2022


• Lihong Zhao, School of Natural Sciences, University of California, Merced
• Modeling and Global Sensitivity Analysis of Strategies to Mitigate Covid-19 Transmission on a Structured College Campus
• April 20, 2022


• Hwayeon Ryu, Department of Mathematics, Elon University
• Bifurcation and sensitivity analysis reveal key drivers of multistability in a model of macrophage polarization
• April 6, 2022


• Denis Patterson, High Meadows Environmental Institute, Princeton University
• Spatial stochastic mean-field models and applications
• March 30, 2022


• Christina Edholm, Department of Mathematics, Scripps College
• Exploring Ebola outbreaks with models incorporating different dynamics
• March 23, 2022


• Claus Kadelka, Department of Mathematics, Iowa State University
• Including human behavior in infectious disease models
• March 16, 2022


• Angela Peace, Department of Mathematics, Texas Tech
• Dynamical systems coupling disease and ecosystem ecology
• March 2, 2022


• Zhuolin Qu, Department of Mathematics, University of Texas, San Antonio
• Modeling Immunity to Malaria with an Age-Structured PDE Framework
• February 23, 2022

Fall 2021

• Omar Saucedo, Department of Mathematics, Virginia Tech
• Exploring the impact of “Silent Spreaders” in COVID-19 Dynamics
• December 1, 2021


• Laura Strube, Department of Mathematics, Virginia Tech
• Role of Repeat Infection in the Dynamics of a Simple Model of Waning and Boosting Immunity
• November 3, 2021


• Raffaella de Vita, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech
• From monologues to dialogues: An engineering analysis of the vagina
• October 27, 2021


• Jon Forde, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Hobart and William Smith College
• Multiscale modeling of Covid vaccination and testing
• October 13, 2021


• Nick Ruktanonchai, Department of Population Health Sciences, Virginia Tech
• Informing disease spread and control on complex landscapes with mobility data
• October 6, 2021


• Lauren Childs, Department of Mathematics, Virginia Tech
• Modelling waning and boosting of COVID-19 immunity in Canada
• September 8, 2021

Spring 2021

• Punit Gandhi, Virginia Commonwealth University
• A Fast-Slow Model of Banded Vegetation Pattern Formation in Drylands
• April 21, 2021


• Necibe Tuncer, Florida Atlantic University
• Determining Reliable Parameter Estimates for Within-host and Within-vector models of Zika Virus
• April 14, 2021


• Sharon Bewick, Clemson University
• Nested Metapopulations
• April 7, 2021


• Alexandria Volkening, Northwestern University
• Modeling and measuring pattern formation in zebrafish skin
• March 24, 2021


• Kyle Dahlin, University of Georgia
• Investigating the role of host competition in the spread of mosquito-borne pathogens of wildlife
• March 3, 2021


• Morgan Craig, University of Montreal
• Understanding viral infection dynamics within the host using computational biology
• February 24, 2021


• Scott McKinley, Tulane University
• Antibody-Mediated Immobilization of Virions in Mucus
• February 10, 2021


• Daniel Reeves, Fred Hutchison
• Vaccination, not vaccines, saves lives. Modeling SARS-CoV-2 in King County WA
• February 3, 2021


• Claus Kadelka, Iowa State University
• A meta-analysis of Boolean network models reveals design principles of gene regulatory networks
• January 27, 2021

Fall 2020

• Miranda Teboh-Ewungkem, Lehigh University
• Mosquitoes and Diseases: A Mathematical Study of a Complex Problem involving Female Anopheles Mosquitoes and Malaria
• November 18, 2020


• Margaret Grogan, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
• Non-exponentially distributed waiting times in a two-strain SITR vector-borne disease model
• November 11, 2020


• Rebecca Borchering, Penn State
• Anomalous influenza seasonality in the United States and underlying mechanisms
• November 4, 2020


• Suzanne Robertson, VCU
• Neighborhood control of vector-borne disease
• October 28, 2020


• Veronica Ciocanel, Duke University
• Modeling and data analysis for intracellular protein organization
• October 14, 2020


• Andreas Handel, University of Georgia
• COVID-19: Modeling, Visualization and Data Analysis
• October 7, 2020


• Paul Macklin, Indiana University
• Hybrid continuum-discrete modeling of SARS-CoV-2 infection dynamics and immune response in tissues
• September 30, 2020


• Wasiur KhudaBukhsh, MBI, Ohio State University
• Incorporating age and delay into models for biophysical systems
• September 23, 2020


• Yangyang Wang, University of Iowa
• Complex Bursting Patterns in an Embryonic Respiratory Neuron Model
• September 16, 2020

Spring 2020

• Shelby Wilson, University of Maryland
• Social Organization and its Effects on Disease Spread
• May 6, 2020


• Iulia Lazar, Virginia Tech
• Using mass spectrometry and proteomics for addressing relevant topics in cancer research
• April 22, 2020


• T. Murali, Virginia Tech
• How to build regulatory networks from single-cell gene expression data
• April 15, 2020


• Sean McMahon, Virginia Tech
• Modeling growth-mediated motility in Clostridium perfringens
• April 1, 2020


• Omar Saucedo, Virginia Tech
• Searching for Superspreaders: Identifying Epidemic Patterns Associated with Superspreading Events in Stochastic Models
• March 25, 2020


• Lubna Pinky, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center
• Kinetics of Parainfluenza Virus Infection
• March 4, 2020


• Sarah Cobey, University of Chicago
• Joint with the EEB Seminar Series
• Immune memory, vaccination, and the dynamics of selection on Influenza viruses
• February 13, 2020 at 3:30 - 4:45 PM, Derring 4069


• Whitney Mgbara, University of California, Berkeley
• Modeling the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic in Montreal, Canada using an SEIR framework
• February 5, 2020


• Max Mikel-Stites, Virginia Tech
• Sensory asymmetry in a parasitoid fly
• January 22, 2020

Fall 2019

• Sarah Kadelka, Virginia Tech
• Modeling the dynamics of hepatitis B antigens under RNAi therapy
• Melody Walker, Virginia Tech
• Simple Functional Forms to describe density dependence during aquatic mosquito development
• November 20, 2019


• Holly Kindsvater, Virginia Tech
• Using evolutionary theory to inform joint priors on demographic rates of rare marine pelagic fish
• November 13, 2019


• David Dick, University of Western Ontario
• Modeling the multiscale evolution of HIV-1
• November 6, 2019


• Xiaochu Li, Virginia Tech
• Pattern Formation of Bacterial-Phage System
• October 30, 2019


• Luis Escobar, Virginia Tech
• Biogeography and Macroecology in the Anthropocene
• October 23, 2019


• Jeremy Draghi, Virginia Tech
• Narrow paths to innovation in evolutionary models of stabilizing selection and phenotypic noise
• October 16, 2019


• Libin Rong, University of Florida
• Modeling HIV dynamics during suppressive therapy
• October 9, 2019


• John Tyson, Virginia Tech
• A dynamical paradigm for modeling molecular regulatory networks in cells: Applied to multiple-fission cycles in the green alga Chlamydomonas
• October 2, 2019


• Folashade Agusto, University of Kansas
• Optimal Control and Temperature Variations of Malaria Transmission Dynamics
• September 11, 2019

Spring 2019

• Erica Rutter, North Carolina State University
• Synthesizing Data Science and Dynamical Systems to Model Biological Phenomena
• May 8, 2019


• Hodjat Pendar, Virginia Tech
• Recovering indirectly measured signals in physiological systems with large datasets
• May 1, 2019


• Miguel Acevedo, University of Florida
• Virulence and host heterogeneities: Complex answers from simple disease models
• April 17, 2019


• John McDowell, Virginia Tech
• Mechanisms through which oomycetes make plants sick
• April 10, 2019


• Joel McGlothlin, Virginia Tech
• Indirect genetic effects and the evolution of behavior in social networks
• April 3, 2019


• Lauren Childs, Virginia Tech
• Modeling novel strategies to block malaria transmission
• March 20, 2019


• Joe Hoyt, Virginia Tech
• Illuminating transmission: the role of cryptic connections in driving disease epidemics
• February 20, 2019


• Samantha Erwin, NC State University
• Mathematical model of the effects of antibiotics on antimicrobial susceptibility of enteric bacteria
• January 30, 2019


• Laura Strube, Virginia Tech
• A Mathematical Model of Translation Regulation by the Integrated Stress Response: the ISR as an Analog-Digital Mechanism Tuned by eIF2B
• January 23, 2019

Fall 2018

• Sivan Leviyang, Georgetown University
• Modeling the Interferon Response to Viral Infection
• December 5, 2018


• Anne Brown, Virginia Tech
• Molecular Dynamics Simulations of gp120 and gp41 of HIV Env Provide Insights into Strain Specificity and the Role of the Membrane Environment
• November 7, 2018


• Steve Strogatz, Cornell University
• Birth-death processes on networks: How long does it take for a fitter mutant to take over?
• October 31, 2018


• Jane Heffernan, York University
• Modelling HIV progression
• October 24, 2018


• Jeremy Wojdak, Radford University
• One talk, two themes: Size-dependent functional responses makes predicting simple predator-prey interactions not so simple, and a cyber-social network of mathbio educators that might make your life easier
• October 17, 2018


• Alethea Barbaro, Case Western University
• An interacting particle model for the Icelandic capelin
• September 26, 2018


• Paul Hurtado, University of Nevada, Reno
• A Generalized 'Linear Chain Trick' for constructing mean field ODE models with more flexible dwell time assumptions
• September 12, 2018


• Jake Socha, Virginia Tech
• How butterflies and mosquitoes pump and suck (to drink)
• September 5, 2018


• Omar Saucedo, Ohio State University
• Spatial Dynamics of Vector Borne Diseases
• August 29, 2018

Spring 2018

• Julie Blackwood, Williams College
• Uncovering the drivers of spatial synchrony of periodical cicadas in the U.S.
• Special Day and Time: Friday, April 20, 2017 10-11 AM


• Colin Carlson, SESYNC
• Death is just the beginning: reconstructing--and forecasting--extinctions with minimal data
• April 18, 2018


• Quinn Thomas, Virginia Tech
• Foresting the future of Southeastern U.S. pine forests in response to climate change
• April 4, 2018


• Erin Mordecai, Stanford University
• Global change and the ecology of vector-borne disease
• March 28, 2018


• Angie Raad, York University
• A mathematical model predicting restored T-cell homeostasis as a major contributor to the decay in HIV persistence
• March 21, 2018


• Josef Uyeda, Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech
• On the need for phylogenetic natural history
• March 14, 2018


• Julia Reis, Virginia Tech
• Simulation of four respiratory viruses and inference of epidemiological parameters
• February 14, 2018


• Nicole Abaid, Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech
• Model-free analyses of social dynamics: experiments with bats and humans
• February 7, 2018


• Kate Langwig, Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech
• Vaccine effects on heterogeneity in susceptibility and implications for population health management
• January 24, 2018


• Pavel Kraikivski, Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech
• Crafting Computational Tools Capable to Reveal Molecular Mechanisms of Cancer
• January 17, 2018

Fall 2017

• Rebecca Segal, Department of Mathematics, Virginia Commonwealth University
• Differential Equations Heal All Wounds
• December 6, 2017


• Deborah Shutt, Department of Mathematics, Virginia Military Institute
• An Embedded Stochastic Model and Bayesian Estimation of Important Outbreak Characteristics for Zika in Central and South America
• November 29, 2017


• Melody Walker, Department of Mathematics, Virginia Tech
• Modeling allele effects in a transgenic mosquito population during range expansion
• Zach Gajewski, Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech
• The impact of a natural temperature regime on the growth of the amphibian chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.
• November 15, 2017


• Michael Robert, University of the Sciences
• Emergence of dengue and Zika virus in the United States: a model-based investigation
• November 1, 2017


• Nicole Mideo, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto
• The evolutionary ecology of malaria transmission, a parasite’s perspective
• Special Day and Time (Joint with EEB): Thursday, October 26, 2017 3:30-4:45 PM


• Holly Gaff, Biological Sciences Department, Old Dominion
• Climate change and tick-borne diseases
• October 11, 2017


• Ryan Nikin-Beers, Department of Mathematics, Virginia Tech
• Unraveling within-host signatures of dengue infection at the population level
• October 4, 2017


• Gary Nave, Engineering Mechanics, Virginia Tech
• The dynamic structure of gliding animal flight
• September 27, 2017


• Lauren M. Childs, Department of Mathematics, Virginia Tech
• Modeling Zika Dynamics: When does sexual transmission matter?
• September 6, 2017

Spring 2017

• Sarah Rainey, Department of Biology, Radford
• Modeling the impact of migration on cholera outbreaks
• Sarah Kadelka, Department of Mathematics, Virginia Tech
• Bistable dynamics between primed and tolerant states following challenge with endotoxin
• April 26, 2017


• Shane Ross, Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech
• Atmospheric coherent structures and aerobiological invasions
• April 19, 2017


• Jon Forde, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
• Mathematical Model of Hepatitis B Infection
• Special Day and Time: Thursday, April 13, 2017 4-5 PM


• Leah Shaw, Department of Mathematics, William and Mary
• Bistability and asymmetric dispersal in models for Chesapeake Bay oyster restoration
• April 5, 2017


• Skylar Hopkins, Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech
• Contact handling times create nonlinear relationships between transmission and host density
• March 22, 2017


• Philipp Boersch-Supan, Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida
• Understanding determinants of albatross growth with Dynamic Energy Budget Theory
• March 15, 2017


• Arietta Fleming-Davies, Department of Biology, Radford
• Host heterogeneity helps maintain diversity in an insect viral pathogen
• February 22, 2017


• Samantha Erwin, Department of Mathematics, Virginia Tech
• Modeling the Mechanisms by Which HIV-Associated Immunosuppression influences HPV Persistence at the Oral Mucosa
• Ryan Nikin-Beers, Department of Mathematics, Virginia Tech
• Immune Viral Dynamics of Dengue Infection
• February 15, 2017


• Stanca Ciupe, Department of Mathematics, Virginia Tech
• Modeling hepatitis B acute and chronic infections
• February 8, 2017


• Lauren M. Childs, Department of Mathematics, Virginia Tech
• A quantitative comparison of quarantine and symptom monitoring
• February 1, 2017

Fall 2016

• Olivia Prosper, Department of Mathematics, University of Kentucky
• Spatial heterogeneity, host movement, and the transmission of mosquito-borne disease
• December 7, 2016


• Harel Dahari, Loyola University Medical Center
• Modeling hepatitis C virus infection and treatment: from the molecular to the population level
• November 30, 2016


• Xueyang Feng, Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech
• A Computational Platform to Bridge High-throughput Sequencing and Metabolic Flux Analysis
• November 2, 2016


• Jing Chen, Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech
• Modeling Spatiotemporal Regulation of Mitotic Spindle Assembly Checkpoint
• October 26, 2016


• Julie Blackwood, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Williams College
• Rabies persistence in vampire bats: immunity, pathogenesis, and immigration
• October 19, 2016


• Kaja Abbas, Department of Population Health Sciences, Virginia Tech
• Viral and Immune System Dynamics of HIV-1, CD4+ T Cells and Macrophages during Acute, Clinically Latent and Late Phases of HIV Infection
• October 12, 2016


• Stanca Ciupe, Department of Mathematics, Virginia Tech
• Understanding early immune responses against virus infections: do antibodies matter?
• September 21, 2016


• Fadoua El Moustaid, Department of Biology, Virginia Tech
• Mathematical Modeling of Cyanobacterial Dynamics in a Chemostat
• September 14, 2016


• Leah Johnson, Department of Statistics, Virginia Tech
• How Hot is Malaria? - Open challenges in evaluating the impact of climate on the transmission of vector-borne disease
• September 7, 2016


• Lauren M. Childs, Department of Mathematics, Virginia Tech
• The role of interconnectivity in control of an Ebola epidemic
• August 30, 2016