Postdoctoral Fellowship: MPS-Ascend: Advancing Mosquito-borne Disease Models with Distributed Delay Equations

Kyle Dahlin博士被授予国家科学基金会数学和物理科学上升博士后研究奖学金(NSF MPS-Ascend)，以开展一项与扩大STEM中代表性不足群体的参与相关的研究、教育和活动。该奖学金资助了题为“用分布式时滞方程推进蚊媒疾病模型”的研究项目。该项目的活动将在主办机构弗吉尼亚理工学院和州立大学进行，由劳伦·查尔德博士指导。蚊媒疾病是人类面临的最大挑战之一，但了解它们的驱动因素是一个挑战，因为传播涉及三种生物之间的相互作用：媒介、宿主和寄生虫。该项目需要开发蚊媒疾病传播的新模型，以通过三个目标纳入关键的生物学和生态学过程：(I)将现实的蚊子取食行为纳入数学模型；(Ii)将行为动力学纳入蚊子-宿主接触模型；以及(Iii)将这些蚊子行为纳入疾病传播模型。这项工作将与旨在增加夏威夷原住民和其他太平洋岛民参与STEM的几项扩大参与活动同时进行，包括开发包含太平洋岛民传统海洋探路实践主题的微积分课程。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Dr. Kyle Dahlin is awarded a National Science Foundation Mathematical and Physical Sciences Ascending Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (NSF MPS-Ascend) to conduct a program of research, education, and activities related to broadening participation by groups underrepresented in STEM. This fellowship supports the research project entitled "Advancing Mosquito-borne Disease Models with Distributed Delay Equations". The project activities will be conducted at the host institution, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, under the mentorship of Dr. Lauren Childs.Mosquito-borne diseases are one of the greatest challenges faced by humanity, but understanding their drivers is a challenge as transmission involves interactions between three organisms: vector, host and parasite. This project entails developing novel models of mosquito-borne disease transmission to incorporate key biological and ecological processes via three objectives: (i) incorporate realistic mosquito feeding behaviors into mathematical models; (ii) integrate behavioral dynamics into mosquito-host contact models; and (iii) combine these mosquito behaviors into disease transmission models. This work will be conducted in parallel with several broadening participation activities aimed at increasing the participation of Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders in STEM, including the development of a calculus curriculum that incorporates topics from traditional Pacific Islander practices of oceanic wayfinding.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.