Project Mentor: Prof. Hsuan-Wei (Wayne) Lee, Biostatistics and Health Data Science
2026 Impact Fellows:
Project Description:
Traditional epidemiological models fail to capture the dynamic, non-linear impact of human behavior—such as vaccine hesitancy or masking fatigue—which drove divergent outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. This NextGen Impact Fellowship project addresses that critical gap.
This team will contribute to developing the first-ever Behavior-Aware Community Digital Twin Platform. This revolutionary simulation environment treats disease spread and social responses as inseparable, co-evolving systems. The core of the team's work will involve coupling advanced agent-based modeling (ABM) with principles of evolutionary game theory to simulate how virtual populations adapt and react to public health interventions and information campaigns.
The project will consist of subteams who can work on aspects such as Behavioral Modeling, Data Integration, and Policy Engagement, gaining true intellectual ownership over distinct platform components. Responsibilities include:
- Algorithmic Development: Architecting novel mathematical frameworks for decision-making under uncertainty.
- Infrastructure: Integrating aggregated health data from regional, national, and global sources, along with privacy-preserving synthetic datasets, into the platform.
- Actionable Insights: Co-designing and stress-testing intervention packages (e.g., policy combinations, targeted communication) with public health agencies and healthcare systems, such as the Bethlehem Health Bureau and Lehigh Valley Health Network.
This project offers experience in uncertainty quantification, systems thinking, and translating complex computational work into actionable policy. Deliverables include peer-reviewed publications, national conference presentations, and the release of a transferable open-source platform, positioning team members as an emerging leader in data-driven public health strategy.