Undergraduate Mini-Workshop on Mathematical Modeling of Malaria

The undergraduate Mini-Workshop Mathematical Modeling of Malaria will be held at the Minnesota State University, Mankato during June 2-4, 2023.

Vector-borne diseases (VBD) still impose heavy health and economic burdens across the globe, especially in developing countries. The emergence of novel diseases, like the novel 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19), can create sudden shifts in the economic landscape, and disrupt VBD control programs by diverting economic and health resources and changing contact networks. In this workshop we will bring undergraduate students to learn about developing and linking economic models with infectious disease models. The workshop will emphasize hand-on experiments about setting up, simulating, and analyzing these models.

Application

We are excited to announce that we have been able to secure funding for travel reimbursement (up to $800) for undergraduate student participants for this workshop.  To receive full consideration, a complete application including 1) a resume, 2) one page addressing your interest, 3) unofficial transcript, 4) one reference letter from a faculty member, should be submitted to Ruijun Zhao at ruijun.zhao@mnsu.edu (also copied to oprosper@utk.edu and calistusnn@ufl.edu) by February 1, 2023. Accepted participants will be notified by March 1, 2023.  

The application has been extended to April 1, 2023. A decision will be made as soon as possible.

Schedule

Workshop Organizers

  • Dr. Ruijun Zhao (Chair), Minnesota State University, Mankato
  • Dr. Calistus Ngonghala, University of Florida
  • Dr. Olivia Prosper, University of Tennessee

Special Guest

  • Professor Charles Mbogo, Kenya Medical Research Institute

Acknowledgements

  • National Science Foundation
  • Department for Mathematics and Statistics, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, Minnesota State University, Mankato

          

More about the workshop

This workshop is the first of the two workshops supported by an NSF-funded project - Collaborative Research: A New Multiscale Framework for Integrating Socio-Economic Processes, Vector-Borne Disease Control, and the Impact of Transient Events. The project is aimed at incorporating dynamic feedbacks between disease and economic systems into mathematical models for vector borne diseases and building the mathematical toolbox required to analyze and simulate these coupled systems. This toolbox will include advancements of commonly-used methods that break down for economic-VBD models, different methods to incorporate the distribution of bednets whose efficacy changes over time, the study of transient dynamics that arise from endogenous and exogenous factors, and finally, the application of these models to malaria, using socio-economic and epidemiological data from Kenya, Madagascar, and West Africa.

Shuttles from from Minneapolis/St.Paul International Airport to Mankato

Land to Air Express

Landline

Accomodations

AmericInn Mankato (2 blocks from campus)

240 Stadium Road Mankato, MN 56001

Phone: 507- 345-8011

 

AmericInn Website