Join us for Understanding and Exploring Network Epidemiology in the Time of Coronavirus, a special online workshop presented by the University of Maryland’s COMBINE program in network biology, in partnership with Vermont’s Complex Systems Center. 

In brief: Over the course of April, participants will engage in tutorials, seminars, and discussion groups to contextualize and understand our current global pandemic using network science. Activities include introduction to network epidemiology, review of recent research on coronavirus, and exploration of various modeling and data analysis approaches.

Who should participate? STEM graduate students, postdocs, faculty, etc. who are interested in network epidemiology. A prior background in network science is not necessary, but may be helpful for some optional discussion group activities.

Schedule: Each date involves one tutorial/seminar (1 hour) followed by a discussion group session (1 hour)

• April 9th, 12pm ET
  • Network Epidemiology Tutorial - Aaron Clauset, University of Colorado
  • Introduction to discussion group logistics and tools 
• April 16th, 12pm ET
  • Visualizing Epidemic Data Tutorial - YY Ahn, Indiana University
  • First set of discussion group presentations
• April 23rd, 12pm ET
  • Seminar - Sam Scarpino, Northeastern University
  • Second set of discussion group presentations
• April 30th, 1pm ET
  • Seminar - Laurent Hebert-Dufresne, University of Vermont
  • Follow-up discussion group presentations  

Discussion group details: We’ll provide the logistics for participants to self organize into small discussion groups. These can either be reading groups (the group decides to review a research paper together) or project groups (the group develops a modeling or data analysis project). A certificate will be presented to those who complete the full program (seminars and tutorials + discussion groups).

• On April 9th: We will introduce the logistics of discussion group assembly. Groups will start forming and continue to interact between sessions.
• On April 16th and April 23rd: Each group will have a 10 minute slot (7-minute presentation and 3-minute Q&A) on either 4/16 or 4/23. These may be parallel sessions. Reading groups will summarize the research paper they reviewed; project groups will outline their aims and approaches.
• On April 30th: Groups can sign up for optional follow-up slots to provide an update on progress. 

Signing up: Please apply by 5pm ET on Tuesday, April 7th for full consideration. There is no cost to participants.

• If you're interested in participating in the full program (seminars and tutorials + discussion groups), please fill out the form at https://go.umd.edu/c19program. By filling out our short application form, you're indicating that you intend to participate in at least one reading group or project group and contribute to a group presentation. If space is limited, participants will be selected based on the information provided in the short application form. Our aim is to have a broad group of participants drawn from different relevant fields.
• If you're interested in attending just the tutorial or seminar sessions, please sign up at https://go.umd.edu/c19seminars 

Note on capacity: We expect to host up to 150 participants in tutorials/seminars. If spots are limited, those who apply and are accepted to participate in the full program (tutorials/seminars + group discussions) will be given priority. Recorded videos of the tutorials and seminars will be posted online for those who can't attend live. 

Organizers: Michelle Girvan, Daniel Serrano, Juniper Lovato, Anshuman Swain, and Nick Mennona. If you have questions, please email combine@umd.edu. 

For updates and more information visit our event webpage.