APPEX

U.S. National Science Foundation

Center for Analysis and Prediction of Pandemic Expansion

We welcome not just researchers but practitioners, policymakers, the public, students, and anyone with questions or thoughts about pandemic expansion. Come work with us and be a part of our collaborative community.

What can allow a few isolated cases of an infectious disease to blossom into an outbreak and further expand into a true pandemic? This is the driving question for the NSF Center for Analysis and Prediction of Pandemic Expansion (APPEX). Biomedical and physical, ecological, socio-behavioral, economic, built and natural environmental, and (mis)information access factors are all likely to contribute to these perfect storm scenarios.

The APPEX Center assembles a core team of researchers and practitioners spanning many areas of expertise to foster participation from the entire pandemic science community. Bringing together and materially supporting diverse teams of experts and decision makers in pandemic science, APPEX seeks to tackle questions about pandemic expansion that can only be answered at the interface among disciplines and domains.

Who We Are

Mission

Advance the ways in which pandemic scientists can understand how, why, and when the presence of an infection in a population will cause endemic/epidemic/pandemic disease rather than die out. Our goal is to identify factors leading to pandemic expansion, explore human capacity to prevent or mitigate pandemic threats, provide real-time response capabilities for new threats.

Research and Impact

Combining fundamental and applied research with the goal to deliver actionable recommendations to policymakers.

Values

We aim to foster inclusive and active participation while encouraging distinct contributions from all team members.

Collaborative Approach

Our diverse team, comprising of members from various career stages and institutions such as research universities, small liberal arts colleges, minority-serving institutions, and a national research lab, collaborates with government agencies, industry, and NGOs, bringing multidisciplinary expertise across natural, social, and physical sciences, engineering, mathematics, communications, public policy, and social work.