Brian is key personnel for the Jump thrust. Brian is a virologist by training with a strong publishing record on viral emergence, and therefore directs biological expertise reinforcement of Jump team LLM designs. He contributes to regular monthly meetings for Jump, as well as a weekly ‘working group’ meeting with trainees across disciplines. His additional … Read more
Ivan is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology at Virginia Tech. For the Replicate thrust in the COMPASS Center, he has been investigating the ability of Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) to replicate in liver cells. This is a new area of research for him and has provided him … Read more
Yian Yin is an Assistant Professor of information science at Cornell University. His research applies and develops novel computational tools to understand how individual, social, and environmental processes independently and jointly promote (or inhibit) scientific progress and innovation achievements. As a computational social scientist, he has also used science and innovation as a powerful lens … Read more
Krista Rule Wigginton is a Professor of Environmental Engineering and the Associate Dean for Graduate and Professional Education in the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan. Her research explores pathogens in the environment, with a focus on innovative detection methods and mechanistic descriptions of how pathogens lose infectivity in natural and engineered system. … Read more
Dr. Kelly Speer (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and the Pathogen & Microbiome Institute at Northern Arizona University. Speer’s research leverages field-based systems and natural history collections to examine the impact of environmental change on pathogen and vector dynamics. She specifically focuses on the interactions between bats, blood-feeding arthropods, … Read more
Dr. Thomas Shupe has accumulated over 30 years of experience in working with in vivo and in vitro models for human physiology and pathophysiology. Early in his career, these models focused primarily on models for liver regeneration. Together with colleagues at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM), Dr. Shupe has adapted the fundamental … Read more
Dr. Anil Shanker is an internationally recognized leader in health sciences research, interdisciplinary education, and institutional transformation. As Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation at Meharry Medical College, he spearheads transformative initiatives integrating research with real-world impact. A tenured Professor of Biochemistry, Cancer Biology, Neuroscience and Pharmacology, he is a mentor and catalyst for … Read more
Patricia Raun, co-lead of the COMPASS Center’s Empower Thrust, is a professor of theatre arts at Virginia Tech, where she also serves as the director of the Center for Communicating Science. Among Raun’s honors are a 2024 appointment as Alumni Distinguished Professor, a preeminent faculty position at Virginia Tech recognizing her exceptional teaching, research, and … Read more
Dr. Aramandla Ramesh is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Cancer Biology, Neuroscience & Pharmacology at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, TN. He also serves as an Associate Vice President for Research & Innovation at Meharry. Dr. Ramesh earned his first Ph.D. in Marine Microbiology from Annamalai University, India in 1986. He earned his … Read more
Naren Ramakrishnan is the Thomas L. Phillips Professor at Virginia Tech and leads AI & Machine Learning Research for Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus. He is the founding director of the Sanghani Center for AI and Data Analytics and the Amazon-Virginia Tech Initiative in Efficient and Robust Machine Learning. Naren’s research interests span data science, forecasting, … Read more
A world where we can accurately foresee pandemics and minimize their impact. We seek to forecast and control future viral pandemics by addressing the grand challenge of uncovering the genetic, molecular, cellular, and chemical rules of life underlying pathogen-host interactions through community-based and ethically grounded research.
Leslie Thornton-O’Brien, M.A.
Project Manager, NSF COMPASS Center
Virginia Tech | Computer Science
Blacksburg, VA 24060
lthornto@vt.edu
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No. 2412115. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.