About Samuel Scarpino
The research in our group spans a broad range of topics in complex systems and network science, including: infectious diseases, forecasting and predictive modeling, disease genomics and transcriptomics, outbreak surveillance, and decision making under uncertainty.
Institutes, Labs & Research Centers
Emergent Epidemics Lab
Marine and Environmental Sciences
Physics
Biology
Mathematics
Network Science Program
Research in the Emergent Epidemics Lab spans a broad range of topics in complex systems and network science, with an emphasis on infectious disease dynamics and forecasting/predictive models.
Faculty
Network Science Institute
Network Science Program
Physics
The NSI works to discover and inspire fundamentally new ways to measure, model, predict and visualize meaningful interactions and interconnectivity of social, physical and technological systems. Faculty include: Alessandro Vespignani, Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, Dima Krioukov, Samuel Scarpino.
Publications:
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Samuel Scarpino in the news
April 1, 2021
Why kids hold the key to herd immunity
To win the battle against the pandemic, kids will be vital. The fight against COVID-19 has long been focused on adults – particularly older adults. But kids are becoming a more prominent part of the conversation. We likely won’t see an end to the pandemic, experts say, until children can get vaccinated. On Wednesday, Pfizer […]
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January 5, 2021
What can we expect from the new mutation of the coronavirus?
The new, contagious strain of COVID-19 proves that the U.S. needs to step up surveillance of the constantly-changing virus, says Samuel Scarpino, an assistant professor at Northeastern and director of the Emergent Epidemics Lab. The SARS-CoV-2 virus acquires a new mutation in its genetic structure about every two weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control […]
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October 25, 2020
The Sum Total: A Collection of COVID-19 Stories Across COS
When COVID-19 emerged as global threat, it demanded action. The Northeastern College of Science heard the call. Read the stories of the COS community doing their part to fight the pandemic.
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October 5, 2020
Why Does Covid-19 Hit Hard and Fast in Some Places, but Not Others?
Samuel Scarpino reveals important population density variables that change how fast COVID spreads.
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September 25, 2020
What Do We Know about Airborne Transmission of the Coronavirus?
Research is mounting that COVID can spread easier than thought. How does this change how you should stay safe? And why haven't you heard more?
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July 27, 2020
Scientists Still Don’t Have All the Answers about the Coronavirus–and That’s a Sign of Progress
Continuous talk about Covid-19 and how best to stop it proves that we're learning and adapting to it.
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July 21, 2020
The CDC Is No Longer in Control of Covid-19 Hospitalization Data. Here’s What That Means.
Under a new federal mandate, the COVID-19 data that U.S. hospitals had been sending directly to the Centers for Disease Control and prevention are now being sent to a different central database, using a system run by a private technology firm. The change raised concerns among public health experts, who warned the new directive might be a […]
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July 9, 2020
Disease Surveillance Leaves out the Communities That Need It Most
As the current COVID-19 crisis has made abundantly clear, public health agencies need reliable, up-to-date information to effectively address evolving health problems at local, state, and federal levels. Many agencies in the U.S. are looking to disease surveillance systems that incorporate hospital records and internet-sourced data to predict where and when the worst outbreaks will […]
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July 6, 2020
‘We Find Ourselves Asking Scientists to Do More than Simply Study the Virus’
We find ourselves asking scientists to do more than simply study the virus,” said Mark Patterson, associate dean for research and graduate affairs in Northeastern’s College of Science, in a conversation streamed on Facebook Live. “In state houses, in cable news interviews, and on social media, they’re translating their data into insights, recommendations, and even advocacy.” Patterson spoke […]
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April 24, 2020
Herd Immunity Won’t Come Anytime Soon for Covid-19
Herd immunity is the idea that a disease can’t spread through a population once a large enough percentage is immune, either because they’ve recovered from an infection or received a vaccine. But that won’t work with SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, said Samuel Scarpino, an assistant professor who runs the Emergent Epidemics lab at Northeastern
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March 26, 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.
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February 5, 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.”
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February 21, 2019
Whooping Cough is Back. Here’s the Global Collaboration to Fight It.
Nearly 50 scientists collaborated with Physics Professor Sam Scarpino to develop a compendium on pertussis and dispute the reasoning for its resurgence worldwide.
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November 8, 2017
Professor puts research into action to stop spread of disease
When comparing chefs to scientists, most people associate the former with being “creative” and the latter with being “rigorous.” But Samuel Scarpino doesn’t buy it. He’s a scientist with a passion for cooking, and he sees parallels between the two occupations.
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