Media Inquiries

Lazer is studying the spread of misinformation of COVID-19 and conducting national surveys that monitor citizen responses to government restrictions put in place to combat the virus.

Scarpino’s research focuses on complex systems and network science, including: infectious diseases, forecasting, predictive modeling, and others.

Chinazzi is working with Vespignani and the MOBS lab to produce COVID-19 projections and modeling.

Barabási is using AI to identify new potential drugs to treat COVID-19.

Sanders has talked about how U.S. reliance on global supply chains for low-cost items like masks and hand sanitizer has contributed to shortages, as well as how U.S. manufacturing plants are being repurposed to add lines of production for these items. She is also conducting research on food supply chains and PPE shortages.

Parmet is a leading expert on health, disability and public health law and directs the law school’s Center for Health Policy and Law.

Ahmed is an internationally renowned expert in health law, criminal law and human rights. She studies privacy law related to those who receive a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, and health law related to those not following distancing requirements

Baker has been consulting with WHO to advocate for loosening IP protections among pharmaceutical companies in order to more quickly develop a COVID-19 vaccine and make it widely available

Young has recently been appointed to the US Homeland Security Task Force responsible for distributing funds from the CARES bill to healthcare organizations.

Aldrich has been speaking about the need to practice “physical distancing” instead of “social distancing,” as those who are without social ties and connections are most vulnerable during a pandemic. He has also conducted research on how communities show resilience under several shocks, like the combination of COVID-19 with a natural disaster.

Wamai researches public policy in Africa and is tracking how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect all aspects of the continent.

Bosso has been speaking about SNAP benefits during health crises like COVID-19.

Flynn studies societal resilience and has been speaking about the use of the Defense Production Act to make protective gear and ventilators during COVID-19.

Paul’s research has been speaking about the legality of the mail-in-voting in order to properly social distance.

Rico researches long-term support and healthcare access for disabled and elderly, long-term care policy, healthcare disparities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and telemedicine during the pandemic.

Hoff has spoken about how the U.S.’s primary care system has broken over time, and how this has impacted hospitals’ ability to respond to the demands of COVID-19. He has also written about enlisting specialists and retired medical professionals as COVID-19 overwhelms hospital systems.

Kwoka studies antitrust laws and particularly how they have affected ventilator shortages during COVID-19

Modestino studies public policy and particularly how state policy changes under COVID-19 will affect the economics of those states.

Dickens’ research focuses on the cause of long-term unemployment and its consequences for monetary policy.

Jensen Carr has spoken about how urban and public spaces are being used as COVID emergency centers

DeSteno’s research focuses on the impact affective states have on decision making and behavior, and has been speaking about the fear associated with the spread of COVID-19.

Kramer has conducted research about how to help siblings foster better relationships, and she has been speaking about how families are handling COVID-19 anxiety at home.

Loui studies musical cognition and can speak to why people are turning to music as a way to come together during social distancing

Sarathy’s research focuses on international business and global strategy, industrial policy, global infrastructure, and the airline and computer software industries.

Lustig is using nanoparticles to test which materials can best filter out particles the size of COVID-19 as well as an n95 mask.

Fernandez’s research found that adding an outer layer made from nylon stockings to a homemade face covering can boost its ability to filter out small particles in the air by creating a tighter seal between the mask and the wearer’s face.

Griffin’s current work, in partnership with Professors Parker, Kim and Marsella, focuses on a telephone survey of people’s response to COVID-19 to model and predict decision-making under stress.

Benneyan created a model to help hospitals anticipate possible shortage scenarios in emergency room capacity, ventilators and PPE due to COVID-19.

Babak’s recent research has focused on which social distancing policies have been most effective.

Padir has been speaking about using AI and automation as workforce solutions at a time of social distancing.

Hartzog has been speaking about how face masks will not stand in the way of facial recognition use during COVID-19 and data privacy contact tracking.

Choffnes’ recent research focuses on video streaming services being throttled by US cellular providers as streaming sites are seeing an increase in traffic due to communities practicing social distancing and remote work.

Intille’s current research focuses on using real-time behavior recognition technology and operant conditioning methods to train people in important health-related behavior changes to stop the spread of disease.

Parker’s current work, in partnership with Professors Griffin, Kim and Marsella, focuses on a telephone survey of people’s response to COVID-19 to model and predict decision-making under stress.

Marsella’s current work, in partnership with Professors Griffin, Parker and Kim, focuses on a telephone survey of people’s response to COVID-19 to model and predict decision-making under stress.

Dunne’s current research, in partnership with Professor Borkin, focuses on designing a collaborative data visualization tool for remote work. His team is also exploring the best way to disseminate and communicate information about outbreaks.

Cooper’s current research focuses on developing tutorial and game content specific to COVID-19 for an online game designed to crowdsource protein folding puzzles.

Wallace’s current research focuses on projections onto COVID-19 which use machine learning to maintain a continuously updated database of all reports of clinical trials in humans.

Sundarum’s current research, partnered with Professor Rajmohan focuses on exploring the foundations of policy design for controlling epidemics using behavioral interventions and enabling faster/more accurate diagnostic interference with the use of machine learning.

Coley has been speaking about deep-rooted misconceptions that people have about biology and how that informs their thinking about things like COVID-19, viruses, getting sick and how that can lead to misinformation spread.

Howe has spoken about the spread of misinformation from research that is published as pre-prints.