Dr. Hamdi Kavak among Presenters at Galileo’s Science Café
CDS professor and Center for Social Complexity co-director Dr. Hamdi Kavak joined other Mason faculty for a presentation entitled “Data Science for Pandemic Preparedness and Response” at the Galileo’s Science Café on Thursday, March 10.
The interdisciplinary team of GMU researchers noted in their abstract that “in the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been observed that some individuals are more willing or able to engage in preventative behaviors than others. These behaviors might include mask use, social distancing, and more recently vaccine acceptance, all of which have major impacts on the trajectory of the disease.”
They also identified the role of “spatial-temporal data in better understanding the relationship between human behavior, mobility, and disease spread and how to use this knowledge to improve predictive models.” They believe that “the research provides opportunities to evaluate implemented policies aimed at mitigation and support evidence-based policy-making going forward.”
The hybrid event had a record number of registrations for a Galileo’s Cafe program this academic year with 48 attendees in person and 70 online.
In addition to Dr. Kavak (far right at left), other presenters included Geography and Geoinformation Science faculty Taylor Anderson, PhD; Tim Leslie, PhD; and Andreas Züfle, PhD.
Dr. Kavak discussed the role of simulations and human behavior models in pandemic preparedness. In his portion of the presentation, he highlighted how scientists currently model disease spread and presented challenges of developing realistic simulation models. He also presented state-of-the-art agent-based models that his team has developed and which have presented opportunitiesfor researchers in this field.
The Galileo's Science Cafe Experience
Hear about the latest findings surrounding hot topics in science and medicine that affect our everyday lives and the decisions that we make! Bring your family and friends for a free, casual, interactive science discussion. Learn from the experts and speak with them.
