Ideas

Here are some project ideas that undergraduate students and junior graduate students might consider. I have fairly specific plans for most of these projects, and I’m happy to discuss them further in detail if you find any of these topics interesting.

Epidemic analysis

• Analyses of epidemic time series using basic mathematical models and comparing their dynamics across space and time. I have several data sets that can be analyzed, each targetting different questions. See analyses of Enterovirus D68, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and RSV. Also see the following tutorial.

Epidemic theory

• Theoretical explorations of the coupling between human behavior and epidemiology.
• Theoretical explorations of relationship between climate, behavior, and disease.
• Understanding the impact of immune waning of epidemic dynamics.
• Understanding the impact of COVID-19 interventions on epidemic dynamics. See the following work on pathogen resilience.
• Understanding the impact of stochasticity on epidemic dynamics and persistence. This project can take either theoretical or statistical approaches. See the following work on pathogen resilience.

Methods development

• Validating and improving estimation of COVID-19 intervention effects on pathogen dynamics. See methods used in the analyses of Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and RSV.

Ecology

• Revisiting historical examples with modern quantitative tools.