Data scientist and disease modeler

Data scientist using statistical and mathematical models to explore social, economic, epidemiological, and demographic processes.

Current Projects

Developing a synthetic population of every person and every household in the US.

At Epistemix, my main focus has been researching and developing methods and software to generate a synthetic dataset of the US population. To do this, I integrated Census, satellite, and business datasets to create a line of data for every person and household living in the US that has realistic (but not real!) attributes that are statistically representative down to the census tract level. The dataset can be used for a variety of projects for good -- in public health, climate/environmental, and economic analyses. Get in touch! Learn more here!

News

2022

  • Accepted a new position with Epistemix, an agent-based modeling public health tech company (company website)
  • Superspreading paper finally published (link to paper)
  • Published blog post on data science uses of synthetic data Link!

2021

2020

  • Started working with the coronavirus working group at the Center for Ecology of Infectious Diseases at UGA.
  • Continued collaboration with CDC DGMQ to develop on a centralized database of transmission trees.
  • Mentoring a student in the CURO program for the summer, working on studying COVID19 clusters in different settings.
  • Successfully Defended PhD Thesis: Social structure, contact networks, and spread of respiratory transmitted diseases. ()

2019

  • Presented dissertation research at Annual Center for Ecology of Infectious Diseases Conference! ()
  • Our paper on physics of epidemic transitions is published in PLoS Comp Biol! ()
  • Mentored a student in the Population Biology of Infectious Disease REU Program over the summer! Link to poster!
  • Attended Network Modeling for Epidemics Workshop at University of Washington in Seattle.
  • Presented a poster at the Epidemics Conference in Charleston, SC! ()
  • Continued collaboration with CDC DGMQ.

2018

  • Finished PhD Oral Comprehensive Exams!
  • Mentored a student in the Population Biology of Infectious Disease REU Program over the summer!
  • Our paper on early warning signals with imperfect surveillance data was published! ()
  • Presented at the NSF NRT Meeting for IDEAS Program, Arlington, VA.
  • Continued collaboration with CDC DGMQ.

2017

  • Attended the annual Epidemics Conference in Barcelona
  • Awarded UGA IDEAS Small Grant ($1400)
  • Spent the summer working with the CDC's Division of Global Migration and Quarantine in Atlanta
  • Our paper on the seasonality and early warning signals is published! ()
  • Presented at the Odum School of Ecology, Graduate Student Symposium
  • Attended the Annual MIDAS Meeting of the NIH and presented a poster ()
  • Our paper on the transgenerational effects of age on reproduction was published in the Journal of Insect Physiology! ()
  • Presented at the Computational and Systems Biology Symposium, Colorado State University.
  • Finished PhD Written Comprehensive Exams.

2016

  • Attended the Annual MIDAS Meeting of the NIH and presented a poster () on some of the AERO work, Reston, VA.
  • Awarded a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
  • Presented a talk at the Odum School of Ecology Graduate Student Symposium
  • Visited The Vespignani Lab at Northeastern University to start a collaboration with Project AERO

2015

  • Began a PhD program at the University of Georgia
  • Presented at the National HIV/AIDS Conference in Atlanta, GA
  • Our paper on undiagnosed infections was published in the journal of STDs ()

2014

  • Began a Summer REU working with Dr Andrew Park at UGA
  • Our review paper on the effects of age on reproduction came out in the journal, FLY ().
  • Presented at the Midwest Mathematical Biology Conference, La Crosse, WI.

2013

  • Attended Harvard School of Public Health Undergraduate Conference on America's Next Top Infectious Disease Model: HIV and Influenza, Chicago, IL.
  • Began a Summer REU working with Dr Andrew Park at UGA
  • Presented research with the Bloch-Qazi Lab at the Developmental Biology Symposium, Minneapolis, MN.
  • Presented research from summer REU at the NIMBIOS Undergraduate Research Conference at the interface of Math and Biology, Knoxville, TN.

2012

  • Began an HHMI Summer Undergraduate Research Program at Gustavus Adolphus College in the Bloch-Qazi Lab.
  • Presented at the Midstates Consortium for Math and Science Undergraduate Research Symposium, Chicago, IL.