“Infectious disease outbreaks recapitulate ecology, emerging from the multi-level interaction of hosts, pathogens, and their environment,” Scarpino notes. “As a consequence, we can gain perspective on numerous big, transdisciplinary questions by better understanding epidemics.”

Scarpino, who will join CEMS in early 2016, is currently serving as an Omidyar postdoctoral fellow at the Santa Fe Institute, an independent research center devoted to studying complex systems. By investigating issues that intersect the fields of biology, behavior and disease, Scarpino’s research is delving into understanding disease as an emergent process, and improving public health surveillance.

At CEMS, Scarpino plans to develop a course in mathematical epidemiology, and will teach statistical computing and data analysis. While he views the digital age’s ability to generate and store vast quantities of data as one of the greatest achievements in recent decades, he says he wants to impress upon CEMS students that “data alone can’t solve our problems.”