Editor’s note: This news release was received late Wednesday afternoon
On Wednesday, July 7 at 6 p.m. at Fuller Lodge Lawn as part of Los Alamos ScienceFest 2021, join leading experts in disease modeling for an engaging Q&A panel about the mission to track, understand, and forecast COVID-19.
Researchers Sara Del Valle, Carrie Manore, and Nick Hengartner from Los Alamos National Laboratory will bring their scientific knowledge and statistical expertise to discuss how math and modeling intersect to aid prediction efforts, guide decision-making, and support long-term strategies for global health.
Later in the evening around 8:30 p.m. at Ashley Pond Park there will be a screening of “Flubber” starring Robin Williams, courtesy of Los Alamos County’s Movie in the Park series.
Tickets are not required for either event. More activities for Los Alamos ScienceFest week can be found at www.LosAlamosScienceFest.com.
About Nick Hengartner:
Nick Hengartner is a Statistician and Senior Scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He holds a PhD in Statistics from the University of California, Berkeley, and is a fellow of the American Statistical Association. Before coming to Los Alamos in 2002, Nick taught and did research as an Associate Professor in the Department of Statistics at Yale University. His research interests are in both methodology development and applications of statistics (machine learning) of data from physics, chemistry, and biology, public health (including epidemiology),and large-scale socio-technical simulations.
About Carrie Manore:
Carrie Manore is a Mathematical Epidemiologist and Staff Scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. She holds a PhD in Mathematics and Ecosystem Informatics from Oregon State University. During a postdoc at Tulane University, Carrie did research on mosquito-borne disease using mathematic models to understand how individuals and networks together contribute to disease spread. At LANL, Carrie leads multiple projects and has mentored over 30 students and postdocs. Her research interests are in multi-scale mathematical modeling of infectious disease spread, data analytics, and the interactions between invasive species and pathogen spread. Carrie is currently working on forecasting disease incidence and determining sustainable strategies for controlling risk and mitigating emerging infectious diseases.
About Sara Del Valle:
Dr. Sara Del Valle is a scientist and a Deputy Group Leader for the Information System’s Modeling Group (A-1) at Los Alamos National Laboratory. As a scientist, she leads an interdisciplinary team focused on detecting, understanding, and forecasting infectious diseases using heterogeneous data streams and mathematical, computational, and statistical models. Most recently, her team has been investigating the role of large-scale data analytics such as satellite imagery, Internet data, and climate on complementing traditional approaches to inform infectious disease modeling and political instability. Her work has been covered in several top media outlets such as National Geographic, NPR Science Friday, Popular Mechanics, and The New York Times. Sara received a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics and Computational Sciences from the University of Iowa.