{"661499":{"#nid":"661499","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Researchers to Lead Paradigm Shift in Pandemic Prevention with NSF Grant","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis story, written by Bryant Wine, originally appeared on the College of Computing website.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech scientists, including a researcher from the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E, have formed\u0026nbsp;the core of an interdisciplinary, inter-organizational team which seeks to prevent disease outbreaks by integrating the study of human behavior with computational data-driven models.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECalling themselves BEHIVE (BEHavioral Interaction and Viral Evolution), the group recently received a $1 million \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\u0022\u003ENational Science Foundation (NSF)\u003C\/a\u003E grant toward multidisciplinary team formation and novel outbreak prevention research.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Our goal is to bring together all these terrific researchers from different disciplines to help bring a paradigm shift in the science of pandemic prediction and prevention,\u0026rdquo; said\u0026nbsp;B. Aditya Prakash, associate professor with Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE).\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;While epidemic forecasting is compared to weather forecasting, there is an important difference. Unlike weather, our actions and behavior can change the course of an epidemic.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPrakash is the principal investigator of the $1 million NSF grant. Fellow BEHIVE members include:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EPinar Keskinocak, William W. George Chair and Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EThomas Kingsley, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Informatics at Mayo Clinic\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EShinobu Kitayama, Robert B. Zajonc Collegiate Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003ERamesh Raskar, Associate Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003ELiliana Salvador, Assistant Professor at the University of Georgia\u0026rsquo;s Department of Infectious Diseases\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/joshua-weitz\u0022\u003EJoshua Weitz,\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;Professor and Tom and Marie Patton Chair in the School of Biological Sciences and Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences (QBioS) at Georgia Tech\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPrakash emphasized BEHIVE\u0026rsquo;s primary goal to use its interdisciplinary organization to bridge research methodologies between hard and soft sciences.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHe explained that human behavior was underutilized in epidemic science before Covid-19, largely due to data scarcity and underdeveloped computational technologies. Behavioral dynamics encountered during the pandemic, such as social distancing, mask wearing, and vaccine hesitancy, has provided new research and data that now can be considered in models and simulations.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHere, BEHIVE will develop high fidelity computational models by designing new artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques that bridge human behavior knowledge and traditional epidemiological theory and models.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It is still an open question of how we can best incorporate human behavior knowledge into the study of pandemics. That is the challenge,\u0026rdquo; Prakash said. \u0026ldquo;Our main idea is to better integrate knowledge from psychology and the humanities into pandemic science using novel computational methods.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBEHIVE\u0026nbsp;originated when team members met through various workshops held in 2020 and 2021. Prakash was an invited organizer of the\u0026nbsp;National Symposium on Predicting Emergence of Virulent Entities by Novel Technologies (PREVENT).\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPREVENT reported that interdisciplinary collaboration was an obstacle in predicting and preventing pandemics. For example, some vocabularies often don\u0026rsquo;t mean the same thing across disciplines, so a consistent methodology to establish a common language must be developed.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBEHIVE is custom built to solve these challenges PREVENT revealed. Along with a wealth of knowledge learned through past epidemics, each BEHIVE researcher brings to the group experience working across interdisciplinary lines.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAmong the Georgia Tech researchers alone, Keskinocak\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/news.gatech.edu\/news\/2020\/04\/17\/pinar-keskinocak-coronavirus-pandemic-and-benefits-social-distancing\u0022\u003Einterfaced with policymakers and the public\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;on measures to slow Covid-19\u0026#39;s spread.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPrakash\u0026rsquo;s lab led several high-profile Covid-19 forecasting initiatives, including collaboration with the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\u0022\u003ECenter for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWeitz teamed with fellow Georgia Tech researchers in\u0026nbsp;the College of Sciences, College of Computing, and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/\u0022\u003EWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E to\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/inqubate-training-program-integrates-modeling-and-data-science-bioscience-phd-students\u0022\u003Ecreate a predoctoral training program\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;that integrates computational modeling and data analytics into bioscience.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EKeskinocak, Prakash, and Weitz together are also faculty in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/data\u0022\u003EInstitute for Data Engineering and Science (IDEaS)\u003C\/a\u003E, one of Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s ten interdisciplinary research institutes. IDEaS connects research centers and efforts in foundational areas such as machine learning, high-performance computing, and algorithms.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBEHIVE\u0026rsquo;s $1 million grant is funded through NSF\u0026rsquo;s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/beta.nsf.gov\/news\/predicting-and-preventing-pandemics-goal-new-nsf-awards\u0022\u003EPredictive Intelligence for Pandemic Prevention (PIPP)\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;initiative. This program supports high-risk, high-payoff convergent research that aims to identify, model, predict, track, and mitigate the effects of future pandemics.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAccording to Prakash, the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com\/sites.gatech.edu\/dist\/9\/2679\/files\/2022\/02\/NSF-PIPP-2-Report_FINAL_2021-06-25-2.pdf\u0022\u003EPREVENT symposium\u0026rsquo;s summary report\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;also helped highlight the need for an initiative like PIPP.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPIPP is a two-phased initiative in which NSF selects to fund 25 to 30 project teams, including BEHIVE, for eighteen months through phase one. However, this does not necessarily limit PIPP\u0026rsquo;s influence to chosen project teams within academia.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBEHIVE intends to partner with industry, governmental, and non-profit organizations to expand its interdisciplinary, interorganizational network.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBEHIVE\u0026rsquo;s nucleus of Georgia Tech researchers connects the group with the CDC, Georgia Department of Public Health, and numerous hospitals across the state. BEHIVE\u0026rsquo;s other researchers also serve in leading roles at non-profits, such as the Pathcheck Foundation, and top hospitals like the Mayo Clinic.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAlong with developing interdisciplinary methodologies, new disease prevention models, and partnering with external organizations, BEHIVE hopes to develop educational training programs. This would ensure their effort last generations to bring about the necessary paradigm change to prevent future pandemics.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Our initial projects and research the next eighteen months will help us get a sense of research gaps and enlarge our perspective\u0026rdquo; Prakash said. \u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;re approaching PIPP as a science, and we want to lay the foundation of the science by bringing in many people from different fields for the future.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"One lesson learned from the Covid-19 pandemic is that human behavior is a difficult variable to consider when predicting and preventing disease outbreaks. This challenge is magnified even more considering how different scientific fields conduct research."}],"uid":"34434","created_gmt":"2022-09-23 15:18:00","changed_gmt":"2023-03-02 20:11:03","author":"Renay San Miguel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-09-22T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-09-22T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"661500":{"id":"661500","type":"image","title":"Integrating the study of human behavior with computational data-driven models. (Georgia Tech graphic)","body":null,"created":"1663946512","gmt_created":"2022-09-23 15:21:52","changed":"1663946526","gmt_changed":"2022-09-23 15:22:06","alt":"","file":{"fid":"250555","name":"College of Computing graphic.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/College%20of%20Computing%20graphic.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/College%20of%20Computing%20graphic.png","mime":"image\/png","size":1951843,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/College%20of%20Computing%20graphic.png?itok=W_Yheka4"}}},"media_ids":["661500"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"192250","name":"cos-microbial"},{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"11599","name":"Joshua Weitz"},{"id":"191331","name":"Behavioral Interaction and Viral Evolution"},{"id":"191332","name":"BEEHIVE"},{"id":"184289","name":"covid-19"},{"id":"8294","name":"pandemics"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"},{"id":"39511","name":"Public Service, Leadership, and Policy"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERenay San Miguel\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\/Science Writer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n404-894-5209\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["renay.san@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}