Ultra’s ONE Ultra COVID-19 fund contributed of $10,000 to support the University of Texas COVID-19 Modeling Consortium by helping them build models to detect, project, and combat COVID-19.
The COVID-19 Modeling Consortium unites scientists, social scientists, and engineers in developing innovative models that advance the surveillance, forecasting and mitigation of this unprecedented and elusive threat. Led by Professor Lauren Ancel Meyers, the consortium is actively supporting community workers and health professionals on the front line of the fight against COVID-19 and providing decision-support analyses for local, state and national leaders striving to protect the health and well-being of our society.
The consortium provides statistical modeling on pandemics and how, through cultural behaviours such as social distancing, the US can control the spread and slow down the progress of the virus. Their modelling provides crucial data in the growth rates in the R, using cell phone data to aid things like the identification of hot spots and therefore contact tracing.
Many of Ultra’s employees have studied at The University of Texas in Austin and Ultra has employed many STEM graduates through its academic engagement programmes.
Ultra’s COVID-19 fund contribution will go towards supporting local research:
• Improving and continuous development of modeling capabilities
• Provision of new data sets and the manual collection of data. For example, the resourcing of staff to undertake this process
• Influencing and informing the Government and US citizens in the importance of how the country culturally respond to this (and future) pandemics i.e. social distancing, good hand washing and the ‘why’ it’s so important in slowing down the spread - backed up by their modelling data
To learn more about UT COVID-19 Modeling Consortium models and research please visit: https://covid-19.tacc.utexas.edu/