RII Track-2 FEC: Leveraging Big Data to Improve Prediction of Tick-Borne Disease Patterns and Dynamics

壁虱传播疾病(TDS)占美国媒介传播疾病引起的人类疾病的94%。该项目的使命是利用时空、环境和人类预测因子吸收不同的数据集，并利用网络基础设施和数据科学来增强对美国西部TDS的预测。该项目的核心成员来自三个EPSCoR辖区的大学：爱达荷大学、内华达大学、里诺大学和达特茅斯学院(新罕布夏州)。这一合作将跨越研究和实践的传统边界建立能力，旨在改变人们处理TD的方式。在开放数据最佳做法和标准的基础上，将改进同化数据集的可查找性和可重用性，以便进行新的分析和得出新的结论。因此，该项目的贡献将对TD这一具有国家重要性的公共卫生问题产生广泛和持续的影响。通过早期教师指导活动，该项目将在一个合作网络中增加学者和从业者的人才库，以改进对美国西部TDS的预测和知情反应。该项目发布的数码游戏和演示将有助于提高公众对TDS的认识。该项目的努力还将支持未得到充分服务的人口，主要是农村人口，这些人口都有罹患TDS的风险。所有的培训计划，包括博士后和研究生职位，都将优先考虑女性和代表性不足的少数群体。通过国家大数据创新生态系统，该项目将通过共享交付成果、数据集和互补知识来增加一个新的实践社区，以改善美国和世界各地对TDS的监测和预测。该项目将有助于NSF利用数据革命的大想法，并通过数据密集型研究促进融合研究，以改进TDS的预测。核心的科学假设是，气候变化将通过改变扁虱的地理和季节分布以及环境、生态、社会经济和人类行为的相互作用因素，增加整个美国西部TDS的流行。项目团队将收集和开发应用程序级别的数据集、知识图表、工具和创新的数据科学方法，以促进对美国西部TDS的因素、模式和风险的理解。这项研究包括三个重点科学目标：(1)TD研究的高级框架：稀疏的数据收集和公平框架、工作流程来源和数据生命周期的算法；(2)确定西方壁虱输入途径、病原体和TD动态的变化模式；(3)开发将TDS与气候、环境和社会经济因素联系起来的壁虱动态的时空模型。该团队将整合互补学科的专业知识，以生成丰富的开放数据，促进大数据分析方面的创新和能力，并开发培训、教育和外联计划，以产生持续影响。通过团队合作，研究将对TD动态中的相互作用因素产生新的理解。支持职业早期专业人员的资源和指导将朝着可持续的生产力方向发展。我们将把最先进的知识和技能带给博士后、学生和其他从业者，以培养一支新的劳动力队伍。这个合作项目将促使学术、州、联邦和地方合作伙伴创建一个互联和智能的网络来应对TD。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。

Tick-borne diseases (TDs) account for a staggering 94% of human illnesses due to vector-borne diseases in the U.S. The mission of this project is to assimilate disparate datasets with spatio-temporal, environmental and human predictors and to leverage cyberinfrastructure and data science to enhance forecasting of TDs in the western US. The core members of this project are from universities in three EPSCoR jurisdictions: University of Idaho, University of Nevada, Reno, and Dartmouth College (New Hampshire). The collaboration will build capacity across traditional boundaries of research and practice, with an aim to change the way people tackle TDs. Building upon the best practices and standards for open data, the findability and reusability of the assimilated datasets will be improved to enable new analyses and findings. Accordingly, the contributions of this project will have broad and sustained impacts on TD, a public health issue of national importance. With the early-career faculty mentoring activities, this project will increase the pool of academics and practitioners in a collaborative network for improved prediction and informed response to TDs in the western US. The digital games and demos released by the project will help improve the awareness of TDs among the general public. The efforts of this project will also support underserved and largely rural populations at high risk of TDs. All the training programs, including postdoc and graduate student positions, will give priority to women and underrepresented minority groups. Through the national Big Data innovation ecosystem, this project will add a new community of practice via shared deliverables, datasets and complementary knowledge to improve monitoring and forecasting of TDs across US and the world. This project will contribute to NSF’s big ideas on Harnessing the Data Revolution and Growing Convergence Research through data-intensive research for improved prediction of TDs. The central scientific hypothesis is that, climate change will increase the prevalence of TDs throughout the western US, both through altering the geographic and seasonal distributions of ticks as well as interacting factors of environment, ecology, socioeconomics, and human behavior. The project team will collect and develop application-level datasets, knowledge graphs, tools, and innovative data science methods to advance the understanding of factors, patterns, and risks for TDs in the western US. The research includes three focused scientific objectives: (1) An advanced framework for TD research: Sparse data collection and FAIR framework, workflow provenance, and algorithms for a data life cycle; (2) Identify the changing patterns in tick importation routes, pathogens, and TD dynamics in the West; and (3) Develop spatio-temporal models of tick dynamics that link TDs to climate, environment and socioeconomic factors. The team will incorporate expertise in complementary disciplines to generate enriched open data, promote innovation and capacity in big data analytics, and develop training, education and outreach programs for sustained impact. Through the teamwork, the research will produce fresh understanding of the interacting factors in TD dynamics. Resources and mentoring to support early-career professionals will build towards sustained productivity. We will bring state-of-the-art knowledge and skills to postdocs, students and other practitioners to nurture a new workforce. This collaborative project will engage academic, state, federal and local partners to create a connected and smart network to tackle TDs.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.