Samuel Scarpino

I am a mathematical biologist and an Assistant Professor of Mathematics & Statistics at the University of Vermont and a core faculty member of the Vermont Complex Systems Center. My research focuses on understanding disease as an emergent process and improving public health surveillance. Our group, the Emergent Epidemics Lab, approaches these topics by investigating questions at the intersection of biology, behavior, and disease. Through collaboration with laboratory, field, and public health researchers, the mathematical and computational models we develop are interrogated with novel experiments, evaluated on new data sources, and applied to public health problems. Our surveillance research, for example, is done in close association with state, national, and international public health agencies and has led to substantive changes in surveillance practices. I believe this type of collaboration between scientists and public health decision makers is critical for efficient, effective outbreak preparedness and response. Beyond disease, the group's research has also focused on a broad range of topics, including animal movement and group dynamics; traffic routing; the effects of environmental toxins on behavior and neural biology; and models of spatiotemporal variation in tree density and fruiting phenology.