July 6, 2020

Machine Learning Can Help Get COVID-19 Aid to Those Who Need it Most

Joshua Blumenstock, a Minerva-funded researcher had a conversation with government officials from the Togolese Republic in West Africa in regards to how big data machine learning might help them to identify households who have been impacted by COVID-19 in order to provide financial assistance.

May 22, 2020

Impact update on VBFF Fellow Professor Supratik Guha’s (c/o 2018) ACS Nano paper “Aerosol Filtration Efficiency of Common Fabrics Used in Respiratory Cloth Masks”

The emergence of a pandemic affecting the respiratory system has resulted in a significant demand for face masks, however, there is limited knowledge available on the performance of various commonly available fabrics used in cloth masks. Late April, VBFF Fellow Supratik Guha published a preliminary study that demonstrated that a combination of masks made of high thread-count cotton with natural silk fabric or a chiffon weave can effectively filter out aerosol particles––if the fit is good.

May 14, 2020

Big Data Analytics and Deep Learning Research Help to Support the Fight Against COVID-19

Funded out of the OSD HBCU/MI program, the Director of the Center of Excellence in Research and Education for Big Military Data Intelligence (CREDIT), Lijuan Qian and his team are actively performing research to help support the fight on COVID-19. Their recent article discusses timely and accurate screening/testing that is crucial to fighting COVID-19.

May 5, 2020

Global Sea Piracy Ticks Upwards, and the Coronavirus May Make it Worse

Brandon Prins is a Minerva-funded researcher who studies maritime piracy. In his recent article he discusses why the coronavirus may make piracy even more of a problem in the coming months and years.

May 4, 2020

What is the Right Strategy to Limit the Spread of COVID-19?

Milind Tambe a Minerva-funded researcher and his research team at Harvard Johnson A. Paulson and Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) in collaboration with Harvard Medical School and MIT developed a model to simulate the impact of different physical distancing strategies on the spread of SARS-CoV2, the virus that caused COVID-19.

May 1, 2020

COVID-19 Testing Group

Daniel Larremore a Minerva-funded researcher and colleagues have built an online calculator that can use the calibration data of a specific test to predict is sensitivity and specificity

April 30, 2020

A Rapid Response to COVID-19’s Effect on Communities

Erik Herron is continuing research from his Minerva-funded project “The Central Eurasian State Capacity Initiative” to uncover how the Russian government is using the COVID-19 pandemic to spread disinformation in its neighboring countries.

April 28, 2020

How Extremist Will Capitalize from COVID-19

On April 28th, Minerva-funded researcher Mia Bloom hosted a webinar to share her analysis of how this health crisis is serving extremists groups to recruit new followers who may perceive them as more capable or more honest than their own governments.

April 27, 2020

Best Material for Homemade Face Masks

The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people wear masks in public to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19, but many have questioned the effectiveness of cloth masks.

April 23, 2020

Nearly 50% of Twitter Accounts Talking About Coronavirus Might Be Bots

According to new research from Minerva-funded researcher, Kathleen M. Carley and her research team at Carnegie Mellon University, nearly 50% of “people” talking about coronavirus pandemic on Twitter are not actually people, but bots. The Carnegie Mellon team was able to identify more than 100 false narratives relating to coronavirus worldwide.