The figure above shows output from the Queen’s University Agent-Based Code for modeling epidemics (figure by A. Micuda). The code is developed by a team of primarily undergraduate students. Our CV-19 modelling group has students from all years, as well as graduate students that provide mentoring and review the work. We accept any interested student into the group!
This group has been an ideal place for students to learn about different aspects of research, including literature research, computer modelling and analysis. We have students from physics, engineering (physics and applied math), bio-mathematics, and life sciences. For example, one student came from life science with no programming experience and was able to learn Python and include vaccinations into the code.
Students in the group have also has the opportunity to learn about the funding cycle in research and have applied to receive over $10,000 in funding to pay stipends to themselves as well as attend several conferences, where they have won prizes for their work.
The focus of the group is to develop models to better understand the pandemic and to inform public health. As of Summer 2022, we are working on our first scientific publication. In the future, we plan for any undergraduate of the group that is interested to be able to lead the work to write a first author publication that makes use of the code. Get in touch with us if you are interested in learning some new research skills by joining this group!