From left: Bistra Dilkina, Urbashi Mitra, and Gisele Ragusa are the three researchers from USC who will be a part of the U.S. National Science Foundation Center for Pandemic Insights. (USC illustration/Samantha Fedewa)
USC will be a key contributor to the newly launched U.S. National Science Foundation Center for Pandemic Insights (CPI), offering expertise in machine learning and artificial intelligence used to characterize the animal-to-human interface that results in infectious diseases that jump from wildlife to people.
The center, announced Aug. 22, 2024 by the NSF, will be led by the University of California, Davis. A total of 11 partner entities will collaborate on the $18 million federally funded center across seven years. The center is funded through NSF’s Predictive Intelligence for Pandemic Prevention (PIPP) program.
With an evolving climate leading to changes in the availability of water and food, animal and human populations are coming into contact with each other more frequently, leading to increased likelihood of spillover events. The socioeconomic costs of pandemics haves been made painfully clear in recent years.
“We are laser-focused on the challenge of understanding this critical animal-human interaction,’’ said one of the center’s co-principal investigators, Urbashi Mitra of USC Viterbi, who leads the FORECAST strategic direction of CPI. “We at USC Viterbi are going to be designing the AI and machine learning methods to integrate data from off-the-shelf systems, newly designed, highly specialized, ‘boutique’ sensors, as well as historical data, that will enable inferences about spillover events.” The goal is to engage in forecasting, much like what can currently be done for unusual weather or seismic events.
“We are laser-focused on the challenge of understanding this critical animal-human interaction.” — Urbashi Mitra
“Actionable intelligence in the pre-emergence phase of pandemics holds the greatest promise for mitigating zoonotic [animal-to-people] disease outbreaks and preventing pandemics at their source,” as outlined in the NSF CPI project summary. “Spillover events, characterized by the transmission of pathogens from animals to humans, have precipitated most pandemics to date. Unfortunately, spillover events pose formidable challenges for early detection; wildlife reservoirs for most pandemic threats remain poorly characterized, and disease dynamics in natural environments are highly stochastic, requiring continuous monitoring.”
This monitoring, and analysis of data using AI and machine learning, is where USC Viterbi comes in. Three experts will represent the school on the project:
- Urbashi Mitra, the Gordon S. Marshall Chair in Engineering, and a professor of electrical and computer engineering and computer science. Mitra’s research has developed methods for multi-modal sensor fusion, efficient and fast detection of anomalies, microbial community modeling as well as the design of wireless body area sensing systems to monitor human health and well-being.
- Bistra Dilkina, the Dr. Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg Early Career Chair in Computer Science, and an associate professor of computer science. Dilkina, who also is a co-director of the USC Center for AI in Society, designs machine learning algorithms, and studies ways AI can help to achieve sustainability and conservation. Her prior work has developed methods for animal population projections under climate change, conservation planning and the prevention of animal trafficking.
- Gisele Ragusa, a professor of engineering education. Ragusa, who chairs and directs USC’s STEM Education Consortium, will focus on the university and public education realm of the new center with a focus on transdisciplinary training and research. She’ll serve as the center’s director of education, outreach and workforce development.
“This center has a focus on transdisciplinary research in pandemics,” Ragusa said. “This is incredibly important for both research, education and training.” That aspect — experts from different academic fields working with each other, as well as government, public health officials, and community partners — is vital to providing research-focused insights into future pandemics.
“Prof. Ragusa’s research and leadership in CPI have the potential to transform how we engage in workforce development for these transdisciplinary applications that will only become more important in the future,” Mitra added. “We are extremely fortunate to have someone with her expertise on-board.”
“Transdiciplinary teamwork can open the door for innovative AI research that can push the frontiers of understanding the human-wildlife interface and the possible changes in species populations under continued climate and anthropogenic pressures,” said Dilkina, who brings her longstanding commitment to leveraging AI for biodiversity conservation and other aspects of sustainability to the team.
Aside from UC Davis and USC, partner institutions in the center are: Northeastern University; Labyrinth Global Health; Texas Tech University; the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance; UCLA; the Albert Einstein College of Medicine; the University of Michigan; UC San Diego; and Colorado State University.
Published on September 24th, 2024
Last updated on September 24th, 2024
