Research on infection rates landed two Siena students and their professor a presentation at an international conference – and a published article in an academic journal.
Scott Greenhalgh, Ph.D., associate professor of mathematics, along with Jack Farrell '24, and Owen Spolyar '25 traveled to Bologna, Italy to present at EPIDEMICS 9, the ninth annual International Conference on Infectious Disease Dynamics. Regarded as the top specialty conference in disease modeling, the conference ran for four days in late November and welcomed more than 700 scientists from research groups in disease modeling from around the globe.
“This trip provided the students with the opportunity to present their research results to professionals in the field,” said Greenhalgh. “Together with their mathematics training in the classroom, it gives them practical experience for their future careers. It helps them become more worldly, and it illustrates that they can contribute to their field now, and later down the road.”
This conference featured research on the spread, transmission, persistence, dynamics of infectious diseases; population and public health as well as policy aspects of control and prevention; dynamics at the individual level; interaction with the environment, ecology and evolution of infectious diseases, among others.
The Siena poster presentation focused on a new type of disease model, which they used to predict and evaluate a screening intervention based on recent Chlamydia incidence in the United States. They also scored a publication with their work: their article appeared in the peer-reviewed journal Mathematical Biosciences & Engineering, with Farrell as the first author.
“We created a new approach to predict the incidence of this infection, incorporating ‘person days’ that focused on the number of people who were infected, and for how long,” explained Greenhalgh. “It incorporates more information into the model and will hopefully allow for better predictions of the infection’s spread.”
Their research has the potential for supporting a public education campaign, as symptomatic and asymptomatic infections peak at different times.
Greenhalgh, Farrell and Spolyar have also recently participated in other major mathematics conferences. They presented at the Joint Math Meetings in Boston last January and in San Francisco this month, each attended by more than 7,000 scientists. They also took part in Math Fest in Philadelphia in 2022, among other gatherings.
Farrell ’24, who finished his Siena studies last month, just signed on for a biotechnology position at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.
“The opportunity to present at academic conferences as an undergraduate student is an experience that I am incredibly grateful for,” he said. “I not only had the chance to share my work and network with seasoned academics and industry professionals, but also had the opportunity to travel to and explore so many new places. I feel incredibly lucky to have built such a strong support network with professors and peers during my time at Siena. This and the on-campus roles I held directly helped me land my first position out of college.”
Spolyar plans to become a math and computer science teacher, although his research has him considering further education in math.
“I’ve enjoyed both research projects I have worked on with Dr. Greenhalgh,” he said. “Presenting my work across the country and world has allowed me to interact with many people in the mathematics field, and allowed me to see places I would normally not get to see.”
