Please join us for Dr. Edward L. Boone’s talk on Thursday, February 16, 2023 in 354 Rotunda Hall at 4 p.m.
During the Covid-19 outbreak a large scale data collection effort was put in place very quickly that 
allowed researchers to both assess the spread of the disease and develop strategies for dealing with the spread. Shortly after the data collection had begun it became clear that adequate tools for this type of pandemic had not yet been developed. While many mathematical models had been proposed its properties studied, none had been applied to real world data during a pandemic. This work considers developing a monitoring scheme for Covid-19 that utilizes these mathematical models while using a statistical framework. We demonstrate the method using the John Hopkins Covid-19 dashboard data using the State of Qatar as our country of focus. The method can correctly identify when changes in the system dynamics occurred during the pandemic period before the release of the vaccine.
Edward L. Boone is a Professor of Statistics at Virginia Commonwealth University and has done extensive research in applied statistical methodology. His main research area is Bayesian statistical methodology with applications in areas as diverse as Forensic Science, Neuroscience, Environmental Science, Computer Vision, Toxicology and Clinical Trial design. He holds a PhD in Statistics from Virginia Tech, an MS in Statistics from Virginia Tech, an MS in Mathematics from Miami University and a BS in Mathematics Education from Bowling Green State University.