Leah R. Johnson PhD, assistant professor of computational modeling and data analytics at Virginia Tech, will give the final Suter Science Seminar of the fall 2019 semester at Eastern Mennonite University. She will speak about the prediction of vector-borne diseases at 4 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 4, in Room 106, Suter Science Center. The event is free and open to the public.
More people die due to interactions with mosquitoes every year than from any other animal. This is because mosquitoes spread a variety of lethal pathogens. How can we predict when and where mosquitoes are likely to spread diseases? Johnson will introduce different approaches for using mathematical and statistical models to predict the dynamics of mosquito-borne diseases across space and time. Because mosquitoes, like most disease vectors, are small arthropods, their life cycles and traits are very sensitive to temperature. Dr. Johnson will show how a trait-based approach, that allows data taken on individual mosquitoes to be incorporated into a transmission model, can be used to make predictions about how temperature drives transmission of vector-borne infections. It also allows us to make projections of how and where mosquitoes’ transmission of diseases may shift as climate changes.
Johnson completed her undergraduate degree in physics at The College of William and Mary and earned her PhD in physics/applied math and statistics from the University of California Santa Cruz. After postdoctoral positions at the University of Cambridge (UK), University of California Santa Barbara and University of Chicago, she became an assistant professor of integrative biology at University of South Florida. She is currently an assistant professor of statistics at Virginia Tech. A strong believer that you’re never too old to learn something new, she has recently begun learning Taekwondo.
The seminars are free and open to the public, and made possible by the sponsorship of the Daniel B. Suter Endowment in Biology and the co-sponsorship of supporting programs. Named in honor of long-time EMU biology professor, Daniel B. Suter (1920-2006), the Endowment in Biology was established in 1986 through the generous donations of alumni and friends and currently consists of over $1 million of invested funds. EMU hopes to double the Suter Endowment in order to more adequately support distinguished faculty and to increase scholarship aid to deserving students.