Mauricio Santillana

Mauricio Santillana is a prominent researcher and academic with expertise in applied mathematics, physics, and computational science. He currently holds several positions:

Academic Appointments

• Professor at Northeastern University in both the Physics and Electrical and Computer Engineering Departments23
• Adjunct Professor at the Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health23
• Director of the Machine Intelligence Group for the betterment of Health and the Environment (MIGHTE) at Northeastern University's Network Science Institute23

Research Focus

Dr. Santillana's research spans several areas:

• Modeling geographic patterns of population growth
• Modeling fluid flow for coastal flood simulations and atmospheric pollution transport
• Designing and implementing disease outbreak prediction platforms
• Developing mathematical solutions for healthcare challenges

His work has shown that machine learning techniques can effectively monitor and predict disease outbreak dynamics using novel data sources such as internet search activity, social media posts, clinician searches, human mobility, and weather data.23

Education and Background

• Ph.D. in Computational and Applied Mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin
• B.S. in Physics with highest honors from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico1

Notable Achievements

• Advised the US CDC, Africa CDC, and the White House on population-wide disease forecasting tools3
• Research published in prestigious journals including Nature, Science, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Science2
• Received funding from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIH), U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation2

Dr. Santillana's work combines advanced mathematical modeling, big data analysis, and machine learning to address critical issues in public health and environmental science. His interdisciplinary approach has led to significant contributions in predicting and monitoring disease outbreaks worldwide.