Conference: Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases 2024 Workshop

This award will fund a workshop at Stanford University June 22-24, 2024, in conjunction with the annual Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) conference. The workshop will offer a mix of cutting-edge quantitative training and applied skills related to classic compartmental epidemiological models, estimating environmental response functions using Bayesian inference, and geospatial data analysis using Google Earth Engine. Students will learn how disease ecology models are applied in real-world scenarios from practitioners with experience working in public health and nonprofit sectors. The workshop will feature a dynamic schedule that intersperses quantitative and applied training sessions. This workshop will support scientific training and networking opportunities for at least 40 students from across demographic groups, institutions, and educational backgrounds in cutting edge quantitative and applied tools in disease ecology. The project-based instruction will encourage students to build collaborations among students that will help to form lasting bonds. Students will also receive hand-on instruction in small classrooms (~30 students per track) to ensure networking opportunities with the instructors. Several early-career instructors will receive teaching opportunities to showcase their work in an applied context and to build up their networks with students and post-doctoral scholars. 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.