News
These researchers are predicting COVID-19 trends weeks before standard surveillance
Imagine trying to avoid a car crash. Every split second you spend deliberating what to do, you waste precious time needed to alter your course. Any delay between your brain’s perception of danger and your foot’s contact with the brake could mean the difference between life or death. Members of Northeastern’s Laboratory for the Modeling […]
March 09, 2021
Diseases spread differently, region by region. This Mathematical model shows how.
Considering how many factors contribute to the worldwide spread of airborne infectious diseases, forecasting pandemics can be a daunting task. In an attempt to reflect that complex reality, Northeastern’s Laboratory for the Modeling of Biological and Sociotechnical Systems (MOBS Lab) has developed a new, data-driven model that factors in patterns of interpersonal behavior down to the state or province […]
January 14, 2021
New Global Partnerships Expand Northeastern Ph.D Programs to Italy and Hong Kong
Northeastern’s doctoral students can forge global networks and pursue experiential learning in an international environment thanks to new agreements with a pair of widely recognized universities in Asia and Europe. The global experiential doctoral program between Northeastern, the University of Hong Kong, and Sapienza University of Rome is interdisciplinary flexibility, which allows students to pursue doctoral degrees in […]
December 17, 2020
The Coronavirus Was in the Us in January. We Need to Understand How We Missed It.
SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, was circulating in major U.S. cities as early as January, says Alessandro Vespignani, director of Northeastern’s Network Science Institute. And if we want to keep our communities safe going forward, we need to understand how we missed a virus that was right under our noses.
April 27, 2020
‘Social Distancing’ Is Only the First Step Toward Stopping the Covid-19 Pandemic
After days of closures and requests—or orders—to stay home, many people caught in the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic are wondering if these efforts will be enough. Network scientist Alessandro Vespignani says the answer depends on the ways that local, regional, and federal governments use the time.
March 26, 2020
The Coronavirus Outbreak Is an International Public Health Emergency. Here’s What You Need to Know.
“Either the screening, detection, and isolation in China will be able to contain the epidemic there, or it will be a global issue,” says Alessandro Vespignani, Sternberg Family Distinguished University Professor at Northeastern. “And this will be decided in the next couple of weeks.”
February 05, 2020
Can the Ebola Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo Be Stopped?
The second-largest Ebola outbreak on record began in late July 2018 in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Northeastern professor Alessandro Vespignani and his colleagues are working with the WHO to help model and forecast different aspects of the disease.
August 15, 2019
Researchers use Twitter to track the flu in real time
An international team led by Northeastern’s Alessandro Vespignani has developed a unique computational model that uses Twitter to project the spread of the seasonal flu in real time. With it, public health agencies can plan ahead, allocating medical resources and launching preventative care campaigns.
May 05, 2017
Underreporting of Zika is rife; researchers project epidemic’s spread
New research from Northeastern professor Alessandro Vespignani finds that the number of reported Zika cases in the U.S. may be just the tip of the iceberg due to widespread underreporting. The study also models the predicted spread of Zika across the Americas through 2017.
August 02, 2016
Northeastern researchers examine the Zika pandemic
As the Zika virus continues its inexorable spread, a panel of faculty members discussed how they—and by extension we—can be part of the global solution.
April 11, 2016
What social media data could tell us about the future
Can a flow of information across Twitter signal when a momentous event is about to occur? Northeastern’s Alessandro Vespignani and an interdisciplinary group of scientists developed a method to find out. Their findings represent an initial step in constructing models to detect trouble before it’s too late.
April 07, 2016
World-renowned scholars launch Northeastern’s Network Science Institute
The Network Science Institute, home of the nation’s first doctoral program in network science, brings together an interdisciplinary team of renowned Northeastern scholars to plumb the structure and function of systems and develop intervention strategies to improve the health and security of people around the world.
November 06, 2015
Should we be worried about the plague?
California’s Department of Public Health announced last week that a child contracted the plague after visiting Yosemite National Park in July, the third reported case this year. With the plague’s recent return to the news, we took a look at some myths and truths about the centuries-old disease.
August 12, 2015
3Qs: Tracking the flu
College of Science professor Alessandro Vespignani, a world-renowned network scientist, is working to forecast the spread of the flu.
January 20, 2015