Division of Mathematics and Computer Science

Division of Mathematics and Computer Science

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NSF IHBEM Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU):

Multidisciplinary Analysis of Vaccination Games for Equity (MAVEN)

The Division of Mathematics & Computer Science will host a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program on vaccination game theory, funded and supported by the National Science Foundation’s Incorporating Human Behavior in Epidemiological Models (NSF IHBEM) initiative.

This summer research program aims to offer hands-on experience in theoretical and computational research to five undergraduates pursuing STEM at the University of Guam, enhancing their problem-solving, communication, and computer programming abilities. Teams of students will collaborate on the research project on Multidisciplinary Analysis of Vaccination Games for Equity (MAVEN).

The eight-week research program will be conducted in-person at the University of Guam campus every weekday from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. ChST from May 28 to July 20, 2024.

Selected applicants will receive a $4,000 stipend ($500 per week). Additionally, students will be funded to present their work at conferences after the REU programs.

This program is funded and supported by the National Science Foundation Incorporating Human Behavior in Epidemiological Models (NSF 23-546).

2024 Research Projects

Multidisciplinary Analysis of Vaccination Games for Equity (MAVEN)

With Dr. Hyunju Oh, Dr. Leslie Aquino, Dr. Jan Rychtar, and Dr. Dewey Taylor

Multidisciplinary Analysis of Vaccination Games for Equity (MAVEN) project builds upon the established field of vaccination game theory, which provides a useful framework for analyzing individual and collective decision-making regarding vaccination. By incorporating social determinants of health, we aim to develop a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of vaccination coverage in the ongoing Mpox epidemic. Our collaboration involving expertise of sociologists, economic game theorists, and mathematical epidemiologists will uncover insights to guide community vaccine outreach efforts. Our proposed work involves developing a new epidemiological-behavioral system of ordinary differential equations, using multiple data sources (observational, survey, and experimental) and empirical methods to estimate people’s vaccination preferences, integrating our empirical findings into our new epi-model, and using our parameterized epi-model to conduct retrospective and prospective policy simulations and comparisons.