Lu Zhong
I am currently a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Computer Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, as advised by Jianxi Gao. I obtained my Ph.D. degree in Data Science at the City University of Hong Kong in 2019, advised by Qingpeng Zhang.
My research lies in the intersection of network science, public health, and social science. Specifically, through developing data-driven modeling (Big Data/ML/AI) with network science theory, my research endeavors to improve public health, understand human behavior, and guide data-driven policymaking for disaster preparedness and response. My work involves developing predictive models for infectious disease spread (Nat.Commun.Phys'21, IEEETrans.Cybern'18) and mobility patterns (ArXiv'23), and enhancing healthcare resilience to withstand and recover from crises (Nat. Med'24).
My research leverages terabytes and petabytes of data sourcing from Cuebiq (human mobility data) and the COVID-19 Research Database (EHR data) to better understand human networks and behaviors at the center of societal challenges during disaster events. I have been awarded the Research Accelerator Grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. I am also the referee for Journals like IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems, Physica A, and Scientific Reports.
Related website
News
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2024/10. New paper shared in arXiv: Patient flow networks absorb healthcare stress during pandemic crises.
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2024/06. New paper shared in arXiv: Universal spatial inflation of human mobility.
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2024/05. New paper published in Nature Medicine: Healthcare system resilience and adaptability to pandemic disruptions in the United States. Also, check our result dashboard https://resiliencehealthsys.com/.
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2004/05. Congratulations to student Dimitri Lopez for getting the Best of Podium Award in the 2024 GRS Award at RPI.
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2024/03. Lu and student Dimitri present their work at the conference NERCCS 2024.
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2023/10. Lu presents her work on system resilience at the 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting.
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2023/01. Check the special issue "Dynamics of Complex Networks" in Journal Entropy organized by Dr. Jianxi Gao, Dr. Lu Zhong, Dr. Bolesław Szymański, and Dr. Xueming Liu.
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2022/12. Student James joined our project on the supply chain network.
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2022/10. Lu submitted her NIH K99/R00 application. 2023/03. Impact score top 40%. Many thanks to the advisory committee and all referees.
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2022/06. Undergraduate students Dimitri and Tarun joined our project on the healthcare system.
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2022/05. Lu participates in the Amazon AWS immersion training hosted by the Eshelman Institute, UNC.
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2022/05. New paper published in Humanities & Social Sciences Communications: Vaccination and three non-pharmaceutical interventions determine the dynamics of COVID-19 at 381 metropolitan statistical areas in the US.
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2021/12. New paper published in Nature Communications Physics and recently represented on their cover art: Country distancing increase reveals the effectiveness of travel restrictions in stopping COVID-19 transmission