Mathematical Modeling and Public Health Workshop
The Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics (CCDD) successfully hosted the 13th annual Mathematical Modeling and Public Health Workshop on March 3-4, 2025, in Boston. Designed for undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students in quantitative disciplines and public health, this engaging two-day event was attended by 31 participants from across the country. The workshop aims to attract and inspire talented undergraduate-level students to pursue graduate studies and careers in mathematical modeling and public health.
The event kicked off with a captivating keynote speech by Lauren Ancel Meyers from the University of Texas at Austin. Meyers recounted the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting how her modeling team delivered vital data-driven insights to guide local, state, and national decision-makers over the ensuing months and years.
Following this real-world introduction to why public health matters, participants immersed themselves in a variety of lectures from CCDD faculty, including Marc Lipsitch, Caroline Buckee, and Mauricio Santillana, Center trainees, as well as other experts (full workshop agenda & speaker bios). Topics covered SIR modeling, antimicrobial resistance, science communication, infectious disease and climate change, and machine learning with novel data sources. Each lecture was paired with hands-on breakout sessions, such as SIR modeling in R and outbreak scenarios, allowing participants to directly apply their new knowledge. The workshop also featured valuable career development and networking opportunities, including a career panel with academia, industry, and government experts, as well as networking lunches and dinners with workshop speakers, CCDD faculty, and trainees. Based on the results of the post-workshop survey, participants found the workshop to be an incredibly valuable and unique experience.
Participant feedback included:
- I liked that the speakers were all from different academic backgrounds and it helped to show that there is not one direct path to a career in mathematical modeling and public health.
- I liked meeting new people and getting exposed to so many different trajectories in public health research—it was so inspiring!
- I enjoyed everything from the speakers to the interactive activities, to the speaker [Career] panel. I really liked how the workshop was organized with a lecture followed by an interactive activity. I think this increased participant engagement and kept the action-packed days refreshing! This also helped us envision the work we could potentially do in the future.
