CONNECT 2021

work in something like the history of medicine, you can’t be siloed. Your work will suffer. You have to talk to people on all sides. That’s really important, because it makes the work better.” In January, CAS will bring in two more new hires. Patrick Stephens is coming to the Department of Integrative Biology from the University of Georgia. He focuses on the application of statistical modeling and machine learning to ecological and evolutionary questions that are generally macroecological in their scope. His current research focuses on zoonotic diseases, host-parasite interactions and the biodiversity of free- living organisms. Also, Lucas Martins Stolerman will come to the Department of Mathematics after a research fellowship at Harvard Medical School/Boston Children’s Hospital. He studies infectious disease dynamics using mathematical modeling and data analysis to understand and predict epidemic outbreaks. His recent research has included developing automated data-driven methods for COVID-19 and dengue forecasting. And the last piece of this faculty puzzle will arrive at OSU in August 2022. Merle Eisenberg will join the Department of History after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Socio-Environmental “We need to strike while the iron is hot and make sure that we don’t just keep our discoveries locked up in academic spheres.” REBECCA KAPLAN Synthesis Center. He studies pandemics in the context of historical transformations through the dynamic interaction between human societies and the environments they occupy. His current research tracks the development of the Justinianic Plague as a pandemic based on how it was framed by doctors, scientists and colonial administrators at the turn of the 20th century. “These six researchers are each going to do great work,” Krutz said. “Through collaboration with other incredible researchers across CAS and all of OSU, they will truly make a difference by helping society prepare for the next pandemic. I can’t think of a better way to fulfill the land-grant mission.” OSU COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SC I ENCES 5