FEFFERMAN LAB - Key Persons
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- Graduate Student Citations
Belal Hossain, a graduate student, is deeply committed to unraveling the complexities of infectious disease outbreaks, focusing on the interface of human-animal-ecosystems. With a background in Veterinary Medicine and a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology, Belal's expertise spans the spectrum of bacterial and viral zoonoses, from highly pathogenic avian influenza to anthrax and Nipah encephalitis.
Driven by a passion for disease prevention, Belal's research delves into the interplay of social, environmental, and etiological factors shaping infectious disease outbreaks of zoonotic origin. His work not only addresses critical gaps in understanding transmission dynamics but also informs policymakers on mitigating the risk of outbreaks, particularly in low-income settings.
Outside of academia, Belal's interests encompass exploring natural and archaeological sites, indulging in sports like cricket and tennis, and engaging with music and global affairs. Fluent in three languages and eager to learn more, Belal's diverse perspective enriches both his research and personal pursuits, as he strives to make meaningful contributions to public health and beyond.
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- Undergraduate Student
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- Post Doctoral Research Associate
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- Member of the Previous Lab
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I am an evolutionary anthropologist focused on how individuals approach decision-making within a variety of social organisms, inclusive of humans. Variation in the outcomes of decisions often reflect internal assessments of risk versus reward; importantly, external social factors can affect individual's perceived costs and benefits. In other words, social structure exerts an influence on the expression of individual traits and decision making, but relationships themselves are also influenced by individual states and traits. I have prior experience collecting measures from field experiments, survey-ratings, animal behavior, as well as biomarker sampling, which I interpreted via social network analyses to understand the social as well as physiological consequences of individual differences in how wild baboons respond to stress. Understanding the temporal, spatial, and trait dynamics of these interactions is pivotal for determining the process of how disease or information move through a social network. Due to the complexity of such questions, however, in silico models provide a robust method to develop testable hypotheses. I am very fortunate to be able to expand my skill set into incorporating such approaches within Dr. Fefferman's lab group. I aim to develop a greater understanding of how decision making, uncertainty, and variation in the assessment of risk-reward interplay with social interactions, as well as the emergent social structure. Additionally, I will explore how such a complex interplay constrains or facilitates behavior and information as well as disease transmission.
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Anna Sisk is a PhD student in the mathematics department at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. She is studying mathematical biology under the supervision of Dr. Nina Fefferman and Dr. Judy Day. Her research interests are primarily in mathematical modeling of human biology and disease. She is currently working on applying mathematical modeling to the social sciences, specifically using disease modeling techniques to study violence.
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- Member of the Previous Lab
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- Member of the Previous Lab
- Post Doctoral Researcher
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- Member of the Previous Lab
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Having previously consulted for NIMBioS as part of the NSF's PIPP initiative, his path led him to Dr. Fefferman's lab. His current research encompasses diverse projects that use computational modeling to understand complex systems. David's work extracts insights from minimal data, contributing to fields spanning basic research to epidemic control.
His ongoing research involves finalizing simulation codes that deepen our understanding of information and disease transmission dynamics, setting the stage for collaborative endeavors with experts across disciplines. With his expertise and passion for computational biology, Dr. David Flaherty stands poised to drive significant advancements in scientific knowledge and real-world problem-solving.
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- Student / Summer Lab Manager
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- Post Doctoral Research Associate ( Formerly Consulting Programmer )
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Kelly Buch is currently a Ph.D. student in the Department of Mathematics at University of Tennessee studying mathematical ecology under Dr. Nina Fefferman. She is particularly interested in wildlife management and wildlife diseases. Her current work focuses on modeling the dynamics of Laurel Wilt, a vector borne fungal disease killing redbay, sassafras, and avocado trees in Southeastern United States.
I have also written and produced a short video introducing concepts of Game Theory in the Context of Social Selection. Please take a look: Social Selection
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Dr. Maggie Sullens, who recently earned her Ph.D. in Mathematical Biology from the University of Tennessee Knoxville, embodies the fusion of mathematics, biology, and social systems, employing mathematical modeling to explore human-environment dynamics under Dr. Nina Fefferman's mentorship. With a background in mathematics from the University of North Georgia and a master's degree from UTK, Maggie's academic journey reflects her dedication to using mathematical techniques to answer a variety of questions .
Maggie's research ranges from analyzing the impact of industry collapse on community mental health, to budget allocation and illegal fishing dynamics, and further to understanding stress impacts on physiological states. Through innovative hybrid mathematical modeling, Maggie uncovers insights into complex social and biological phenomena, illuminating the connections between humans and the environment. Her work not only enhances our understanding of social, biological, and ecological systems but also informs policymakers and decision-makers, guiding interventions and resource planning for more effective conservation or community support.
Driven by a desire to contribute meaningfully to mathematics, ecology, and behavior, Maggie aims to leverage her expertise in mathematical modeling for positive change. Whether in a postdoctoral role or research-oriented position, she remains dedicated to making impactful contributions to science, sustainability, and social impacts. Maggie Sullens is poised to leave a lasting mark in the fields of mathematics, biology, and ecology, championing a brighter future for both people and the planet.
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- Member of the Previous Lab
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- Member of the Previous Lab
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- Member of the Previous Lab
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Dr. Young's research focuses on modeling coevolutionary dynamics in vector-borne diseases such as avian malaria.
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- Post Doctoral Research Associate
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John McAlister, a mathematics graduate student at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville, brings a diverse academic background to his research in the Fefferman lab. After graduating from The Ohio State University with dual bachelor's degrees in mathematics and zoology, John joined the lab in 2022 and studied game theoretic models with explicit spatial or relational structure for several years. As he nears the end of this degree program, John hopes to continue his research by using PDEs and non-local equations to investigate continuous extensions of game theoretic models inspired by a broad range of applications.
In discrete domains, John's work involves classifying equilibria of coordination games on small graphs, analyzing the behavior of strategy profiles under best-response replication dynamics, and describing equilibria on arbitrarily large graphs. In continuous domains, John uses PDEs and non-local equations to describe the regularity of coordination processes in time and to classify the limiting behavior of these systems. His work sheds light on the relationship between spatial structure and emergent cooperative behavior, offering valuable insights into coordination behavior within complex systems.
In addition to his work on structured coordination, John and his collaborators have worked on projects about pandemic ecology, game theoretic models of collective behavior, and graph theory. You can find a full list of these projects linked here.
Beyond academia, John enjoys a variety of hobbies, including rock climbing, running, powerlifting, and quilting. With his interdisciplinary approach and enthusiasm for exploration, John McAlister is a perfect fit for the research mission of the Fefferman Lab.
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- Professor of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine
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- Professor of Biology, Tufts University
I am interested in the application of mathematical and computational models to biological systems, especially those systems created and governed by the voluntary collaboration of many independent individuals. In my research, I work on a broad variety of systems, both in my own lab and in collaboration with others at many different institutions.
My research usually falls into one or all of three categories: Epidemiology, Evolutionary & Behavioral Ecology, and Conservation Biology. I am interested in the effects of animal behavior, ecology and infectious disease epidemiology on one another. I model disease in both human and animal populations, and am interested in how disease and disease-related behavioral ecology can affect the short-term survival and long-term evolutionary success of a population. Some of my current projects focus on the modeling of endangered populations of tortoises to determine effective courses of management, social insect populations and their susceptibility to pathogens based on their behavior and nesting ecology, the effects of stress on populations in fluctuating environments, and how best to maintain human societal infrastructure in the face of pandemic disease.
Mathematically, I am interested in Complex Systems: the mathematics of studying the conclusions or outputs of systems where each component is relatively simple (governed by a small set of logical rules), but when you put a lot of them together they react to each other and create highly organized systems and incredibly complex behaviors. Not only are these systems fascinating and beautiful by themselves, but they have direct applications to the types of biological problems mentioned above. For example, in social insect biology, individual honey bees forage for nectar and communicate information about their foraging success to foraging sister bees, but each bee decides independently for herself where to go to next and somehow, as a whole, the nest forages very (mathematically) efficiently!
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- Senior Lecturer, Department of Mathematics, National University of Science and Techknowledge ( Zimbabwe )
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- Professor of Mathematics, University Tunis El Manar
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[2] S. BEN MILED, A. KEBIR and M. L. Hbid, Mathematical modeling describing the effect of fishing and dispersion on hermaphrodite population dynamics. Mathematical Modelling of Natural Phenomena, 5(6):159 - 179, 2010.
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