The 2026–2029 CompBioPMN brings together more than 20 faculty members from primarily undergraduate institutions across the United States. The program seeks to strengthen participants’ connections to the computational biology community, reduce the professional isolation that faculty can experience at smaller institutions, and provide strategies and resources to support career advancement.

Ryu and Perreault participated in the network’s first in-person workshop Aug. 3–4 at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. The workshop introduced participants to the network, provided opportunities to build relationships with peers, and highlighted resources for teaching and undergraduate research.

A central component of CompBioPMN is the development of sustained peer-mentoring relationships. During the 2026–27 and 2027–28 academic years, participants will meet regularly in small “Alliance” groups of approximately four to six faculty members. These groups are designed to provide ongoing mentorship, accountability and community while helping participants establish and make progress toward individual professional goals.

The program also provides opportunities for participants to exchange educational resources and approaches for teaching and mentoring undergraduate research at the intersection of biology, computer science and mathematics.

Participation in CompBioPMN complements ������Ƶ’s commitment to interdisciplinary teaching, scholarship and undergraduate research. Through the network, Ryu and Perreault will have opportunities to develop new collaborations with faculty at other undergraduate-focused institutions, exchange ideas for integrating computational approaches into computational biology education and research, and bring new resources and perspectives back to the ������Ƶ community.

The CompBioPMN Program is organized by Anna Ritz, Margaret Oakley Dayhoff associate professor of bioinformatics at Reed College, and is supported by the National Science Foundation through the Division of Biological Infrastructure (Award #2527521 to Ritz).

Four ������Ƶ students and five faculty members attended the conference, presenting research and scholarly work spanning mathematical biology, mathematics education, artificial intelligence and undergraduate research.

Student Accomplishments:

• Lisa Kranec ’28, a double major in applied mathematics and engineering and a Lumen Scholar, presented her research project, “Mathematical Modeling of Cardiac Macrophages in COVID-19,” during a poster session. Kranec is mentored by Associate Professor of Mathematics Hwayeon Ryu, and her research is supported by the through an award to Ryu as principal investigator.
• Pagnapech Ngoun ’26, an engineering graduate, and Nicolas Alvarez ’27, a double major in mathematics and engineering and a Lumen Scholar, presented their published research in a poster titled “Mathematical Modeling of COVID-19 Reveals Immune Cell Dysfunction.” Their research presents findings from a mathematical model that accounts for interactions between SARS-CoV-2 and the human immune system. Ngoun and Alvarez are mentored by Ryu, and their work is also supported by the through the award to Ryu.

Faculty Accomplishments:

• Professor of Mathematics Todd Lee gave a contributed talk titled “MAA Journal Problems Provide a Foundation for Undergraduate and High School Research Programs.”
• Associate Professor of Mathematics and Statistics Kristen Mazur gave a contributed talk on her work titled “Same Course, Different Outcome: Reflecting on Failure after Success in a Mathematics Capstone Course.”
• Associate Teaching Professor of Mathematics and Statistics Brittany Riggs gave a contributed talk titled “An Interdisciplinary Exploration of Women throughout the History of Mathematics.”
• Associate Professor of Mathematics Hwayeon Ryu gave an invited talk titled “From Failure to Insight: Rethinking Writing-to-Learn through Projects in the Age of AI” during the special session “MAA Project NExT and its Impact on Teaching and Learning.”
• Associate Professor of Mathematics Aaron Trocki��gave a contributed talk titled “Using GenAI to Include Students’ Interests in Calculus.”

The students’ and faculty members’ participation at MathFest highlights the department’s commitment to undergraduate research, innovative teaching and engagement with the broader mathematical community. Their presentations provided opportunities to share work developed at ������Ƶ while connecting with mathematicians, educators and students from across the country.

Ryu co-organized the two-week workshop (with��Adrianne Jenner, senior lecturer, equivalent to assistant professor, at Queensland University of Technology) entitled “Collaborative Workshop for Under-Represented Genders Advancing Mathematical Biology” at ��This workshop focuses on collaborative research, in small groups of underrepresented genders, including female-identifying researchers, each group working on an open problem in a particular area of mathematical biology guided by a senior group leader.

During her visit, she participated in a collaborative project entitled “Models for cell dynamics in developing atherosclerotic plaques,” led by Mary Myerscough, professor of applied mathematics at the University of Sydney.��The primary goal is to develop and analyze mathematical models of macrophage behavior in atherosclerotic plaque development, with a focus on understanding how lipid trafficking, LDL cholesterol and HDL activity influence plaque progression and reduction. Building on existing spatial models, the project will simplify these models into systems of ordinary differential equations to perform bifurcation analyses and investigate whether incorporating mid-stage plaque processes preserves predictions about the effectiveness of increasing HDL action and reducing LDL levels.

Upon the MATRIX workshop, Ryu also delivered a math biology seminar talk at the University of Melbourne, titled “Immune Dysregulation in COVID-19: What Can Mathematical Modeling Tell Us?” based on��her recently published work��supported by the National Science Foundation. In the talk, she addressed why some individuals experience mild COVID-19 while others develop severe disease, presenting a mathematical framework that captures interactions between SARS-CoV-2 and the immune system. Through computational simulations and sensitivity analysis, she demonstrated how variations in immune responses can lead to divergent disease trajectories and highlighted key mechanisms that influence disease progression.

Following her time in Melbourne, Ryu briefly visited Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane to continue working with Jenner on their collaborative project. In addition, she delivered a seminar talk there titled “Bistable Dynamics Arising from Macrophage-Tumor Interactions in the Tumor Microenvironment” based on her recently published paper.

These visits, supported by the National Science Foundation and ������Ƶ College of Arts and Sciences, provided valuable opportunities to advance interdisciplinary collaboration and strengthen international research connections in mathematical biology.

The primary goal of this project is to investigate the link between EBV and MS using a virtual clinical trial framework by testing three hypotheses: EBV resurgency, impaired B cell regulation, and molecular similarity between EBV antigens and myelin in genetically predisposed individuals.

The team has developed a within-host mathematical model of EBV infection, building on existing frameworks that incorporate epithelial and B cell dynamics, to examine which mechanisms are most likely to drive disease onset, with a current focus on immune cross-reactivity. The model will be further extended to include autoreactive immune responses and myelin damage, providing a more comprehensive representation of MS-related pathology.

During her visit, Ryu also delivered a colloquium talk titled “Immune Dysregulation in COVID-19: What Can Mathematical Modeling Tell Us?” based on her recently published work supported by the National Science Foundation. In the talk, she addressed why some individuals experience mild COVID-19 while others develop severe disease, presenting a mathematical framework that captures interactions between SARS-CoV-2 and the immune system. Through computational simulations and sensitivity analysis, she demonstrated how variations in immune responses can lead to divergent disease trajectories and highlighted key mechanisms that influence disease progression.

Following her time in Sydney, Ryu will travel to the University of Melbourne in late April to help organize a two-week workshop, “Collaborative Workshop for Under-Represented Genders Advancing Mathematical Biology,” co-organized with Jenner. This will be held at for the mathematical sciences in Australia near the campus of the University of Melbourne.

These visits provide valuable opportunities to advance interdisciplinary collaboration and strengthen international research connections in mathematical biology.

This article investigates how the human immune system responds to SARS-CoV-2 infection, with a particular focus on natural killer cells and cytokine regulation and their roles in determining disease severity. Using a mathematical, within-host model that combines viral dynamics with immune interactions, the study explores how different immune responses can lead to either viral clearance or severe inflammation. The findings provide insight into key immune mechanisms and offer guidance for identifying potential targets for future COVID-19 treatments. This work is a result of��a��National Science Foundation-funded project��on��COVID-19 mathematical modeling.

is an interdisciplinary journal promoting cutting-edge research, technology transfer and knowledge translation about complex data and information processing at the interface of mathematics, biology, medicine and engineering.

Participants were organized into advocacy teams based on geographic location. Ryu and��her team (of North Carolina 4th Congressional District) met with the offices of U.S. Senators Ted Budd and Thom Tillis through their legislative assistants and held an in-person meeting with U.S. Representative Valerie Foushee of North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District. In each meeting, Ryu participated in the discussions focused on��STEM education and continued federal funding, through the National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy (DoE), and National Institutes of Health (NIH), to sustain and strengthen the U.S. STEM workforce.

The conversations emphasized that mathematics is foundational to nearly every STEM field, including artificial intelligence, biotechnology, cybersecurity, climate modeling and advanced manufacturing. While often operating behind the scenes, mathematical sciences provide the analytical framework that enables innovation across STEM fields. Federal support, such as NSF, ensures that students receive high-quality training in quantitative reasoning, data analysis, and interdisciplinary problem-solving—skills that are increasingly critical in a rapidly evolving economy.

As a faculty member at a primarily undergraduate institution, Ryu highlighted how her NSF-supported research directly benefits students from various STEM majors at ������Ƶ. NSF funding allows faculty to engage undergraduates in authentic research experiences that integrate teaching and scholarship. Through these projects, students gain hands-on experience working with real data, computational models, and collaborative research teams. Many of her former and current students have gone on to graduate programs in STEM, federally funded research positions, or STEM careers in industry and healthcare, contributing directly to the national workforce pipeline.

The meetings also underscored the important role that primarily undergraduate institutions play in educating a diverse STEM workforce, including first-generation students and those from rural or underserved communities. Investments in NSF programs that support undergraduate research help expand access to STEM pathways and ensure that talent from a wide range of backgrounds is represented in the nation’s scientific workforce.

By participating in #MathSciOnTheHill, Ryu helped amplify a collective message from the mathematical sciences community: continued federal investment in mathematics education and research is a strategic investment in the strength, adaptability, and competitiveness of the U.S. STEM workforce.

The Capitol Hill visit highlighted how faculty advocacy can connect classroom and research experiences at ������Ƶ to national conversations about innovation, economic growth, and workforce development. Her Capitol Hill visit was supported by the American Mathematical Society.

At this conference, three ������Ƶ students and two faculty attended and presented.

Student Accomplishments:

• Kelly Donovan ’26, a double major in applied mathematics and statistics, a Lumen Scholar and College Fellow, presented her Lumen project titled “Novel Deep-Sea Coral Imputation Technique: Filling in Missing Data to Further Coral Conservation” in a poster session. Her research is mentored by Assistant Professor of Statistics Nic Bussberg.

• Lisa Kranec ’28,��a double major in engineering and applied mathematics, presented her recent project in a poster session titled, “ Mathematical Modeling of Cardiac Macrophages in COVID-19.” Her research team��is mentored by Associate Professor Hwayeon Ryu and their work has been supported by the����(under Ryu).

• Pagnapech Ngoun ’26,��an engineering major, presented her collaborative research in an oral session titled, “ Mathematical Modeling of COVID-19 Reveals Immune Cell Dysfunction.”��Her research represents recent findings based on a new mathematical model��that accounts for the interaction between SARS-CoV-2 and the human immune system. Her research team��is mentored by Associate Professor Hwayeon Ryu and their work has been supported by the����(under Ryu).

Faculty Accomplishments:

• Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Statistics Keta Henderson gave an invited talk on her collaborative work titled “Analysis of trade-off between dispersal and patch intrinsic growth for a landscape ecological model” in a session “Women in Mathematical Biology”.��Henderson also served as a moderator and co-organizer for the Association of Women in Mathematics Panel: “Shattering the Myths—Hiring Women in Mathematics.” In addition, she participated in a professional development session focused on teaching multivariable calculus using CalcPlot3D and 3D printing. She plans to incorporate these strategies into her MTH 2520 Multivariable Calculus and Analytic Geometry in Spring 2026.

• Associate Professor of Mathematics Hwayeon Ryu��co-organized a special session titled “Women in Mathematical Biology,” in which a total of 16 invited speakers presented a variety of life science questions through the lens of mathematical modeling��to understand complex system dynamics. The goal was to highlight the new developments or advancements along with the diverse group of researchers who drive innovation.��In this session, Ryu presented her recently published paper, “,” partially supported by��������Ƶ Faculty Research & Development Full-Year, Full-Pay Sabbatical Award with Financial Assistance.

“I had a very fulfilling time while at JMM. Althe l presentations I was able to attend, all conversations I had with professors from different programs, and all pieces of feedback I received on my poster were very enriching. I’m very grateful I was able to attend the conference and I’m excited to hopefully attend in the future,” said Donovan ’26.

This work was from international collaboration with three other mathematical biologists including��Susanna Röblitz at the University of Bergen in Norway, partially funded by����through its Structured Quartet Research Ensembles program and ������Ƶ Faculty Research & Development Full-Year, Full-Pay Sabbatical Award with Financial Assistance. In this collaboration, Ryu (serving as the first as well as corresponding author) and co-authors develop and analyze a mathematical model to describe the temporal evolution of the tumor volume alongside different phenotypes of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), which extends their previous work on��a single-cell model in the absence of tumors.��Our new population-level modeling approach allows for investigating��the impact of TAMs on tumor growth and tumors’ control of TAM phenotypes.��To that end, model results are linked to treatment strategies that manipulate the bistable system to transition from high to low tumor volume.

,��established in 1967,��is one of highly cited, top-tier journals in the field of mathematical biology. It is a��monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering work that provides new concepts or new understanding of biological systems using mathematical models, or methodological articles likely to find application to multiple biological systems.

Pagnapech Ngoun ’26, an engineering major, presented her collaborative research in a poster titled, “ Mathematical Modeling of COVID-19 Reveals Immune Cell Dysfunction.” Their research represents recent findings based on a new mathematical model��that accounts for the interaction between SARS-CoV-2 and the human immune system. Her research team��is mentored by Associate Professor Hwayeon Ryu, who also contributed as a judge in the undergraduate poster session. Their work has been supported by the����(under PI Ryu).

In the invited paper session “Trends in Mathematical and Computational Biology” organized by SIGMAA on Mathematical and Computational Biology, Ryu also delivered her oral presentation on her NSF-funded project.

At the conference,��Ryu co-organized��a special session entitled “Mathematical Modeling and Its Applications in Life Science and Public Health,” in which a total of four invited speakers presented a variety of life science questions through the lens of mathematical modeling��to understand complex system dynamics. The goal was to foster innovation in the application of mathematical, statistical and computational methods to life sciences and public health while encouraging collaboration in mathematical biology research.

In this session, Ryu presented her NSF-funded project, “Mathematical Modeling of SARS-CoV-2 Reveals Immune Cell Dysfunction.” She discussed��a mathematical model for immune dynamics of COVID-19 to investigate the underlying mechanisms for disease severity and shared the main results around the impact of dysfunction of selected immune components on the disease progression.

Her COVID-19 research and conference trip were supported by (PI: Ryu).