CEE DISTINGUISHED
SPEAKER SERIES 2015-16
Modeling and Forecast of
T
Contagion Phenomena
he recent big data revolution is finally enabling
the development of data-driven computational
models that allow very detailed analysis of
dynamical processes as diverse as epidemic outbreaks,
information and knowledge diffusion and Internet
packet routing. These models have gained importance
in the public-health domain, especially in infectious
disease epidemiology, by providing quantitative
approaches in support of the policy-making processes.
In this lecture I will focus on discussing the recent
successes as well as the methodological challenges in
the modeling and forecast of contagion processes.
Namely I will discuss the phenomenology emerging
from the integration of multi-scale networks, the
accuracy provided by different levels of data-integration, the problem of real-time estimation of parameters, and the validation through high quality data sets
of the computational models. The example of the Ebola
epidemic in West Africa will be used to ground some of
these questions in the case of a current emerging
disease threat.
in the
age of
BIG DATA
Alessandro
Prof. Vespignani received his undergraduate degree
and Ph.D., both in physics and both from the University
of Rome “La Sapienza,” in 1990 and 1994 respectively.
He completed his postdoctoral research at Yale University and Leiden University. Prof. Vespignani worked
at the International Center for Theoretical Physics
(UNESCO) in Trieste and at the University of Paris-Sud
in France as a member of the National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS) before moving to Indiana University in 2004. Before joining Northeastern University
Vespignani was J.H.Rudy Professor of Informatics and
Computing at Indiana University and serving as the
Director of the Center for Complex Networks and
Systems Research and the Associate Director of the
Pervasive Technology Institute. Vespignani is elected
fellow of the American Physical Society, member of the
Academia Europaea, and fellow of the Institute for
Quantitative Social Sciences at Harvard University. He
is serving in the board/leadership of a variety of professional association and journals and the Institute for
Scientific Interchange Foundation.
Vespignani
STERNBERG DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR
Northeastern University
Monday, May 4th, 2015
LECTURE: 5-6pm | BUILDING 1-190
Pre-lecture Reception at 4:30pm
FACULTY HOSTS
Lydia Bourouiba + Marta Gonzalez