People
Principle Investigator (PI)
Dr. Folashade B. Agusto, fbagusto@gmail.com
I came to the University of Kansas first in 2015 as a Langston Hughes Visiting Professor from Austin Peay State University, Clarksville Tennessee. I finally joined the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 2016. I spent two years at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) at the University of Tennessee as a postdoctoral fellow with Prof Suzanne Lenhart and Agricola Odoi. I got my PhD and MSc. in mathematics from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. I also have a Postgraduate diploma in Computer Science from Univeristy of Ilorin. My undergraduate studies was in the Department of Pure and Applied Mathematics at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Nigeria.
My lab is a cultural melting point, with students from all races, gender, sexual orientation and identification. They are from places like China, Ethiopia, India, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda, and right here in the US. They have different politically and religiously backgrounds. Many of my undergrads give their first presentation in major conferences working in my lab and some publish their first publication from work done in my lab, see Publications page.
Spring 2024 Lab members
Yash Prajapati, Vamsh Komminenii, Venkata Naga Ramesh Solasa, Soumya Baddham, and Marion Berzansky
Fall 2021 Lab members
Tanya Singh, Jaimie Drum, Hiroko Kobayashi, Alexander Fulk, Jordam Bramble, Raul Sanz and Andrew Howard
Fall 2019 Lab members
Moss Lars, Madison G. Mccall, Qays Abu-Saymeh,
Odalis Hernandez, and Alexander Fulk
Graduate Students
Joshua Atsu MPhil. (On going)
Modeling the differential impact of prescribed fire on two ticks system
Department of Mathematics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
Advisor: Benedict Barnes
Role: Co-Advisor.
Abstract: Tularemia is a zoonotic disease caused by Francisella tularensis bacteria, a gram- negative coccobacillus-shaped bacterium. There are multiple transmission routes of the infection to humans such as consumption of contaminated food or water, handling of infected animals or bites from haematophagous arthropods (such as ticks, deer flies, or mosquitoes). In this study we focus on transmission via the bites of ticks and de- veloped a deterministic model of ordinary and impulsive differential equations to gain insight in the differential effect of prescribed fire on Demacenta variablis and Ambly- omma americanum ticks and the prevalence of tularemina. We found that prescribed fire differentially reduce the number of the two ticks with A. americanum reduced the least compare to D. variablis subsequently leading to differential increase of tularemia new infected cases in humans and rodents. Our result further indicates that the spa- tial arrangement of burn against unburn areas may not matter as either arrangement led to fewer ticks and reduction in tularemia transmission when prescribed fire was implemented. The results of this study provide important new understandings of the intricate effect of prescribed fire on tick species, and the dynamics of the tick-borne disease, tularemia disease in this study.
Sanni Mohammed PhD. (On going)
Impact of Harmattan Dust and Meteorological Parameters on Meningitis Disease Incidences in Ilorin, Nigeria
Department of Physics, University of Ilorin, Nigeria
Advisor: Sanni Falaiye
Role: Co-Advisor.
Alexander Fulk MSc. (2023)
Effects of rising temperature and prescribed fire on Amblyomma Americanum with ehrlichiosis
University of Kansas
Abstract: Ehrlichiosis is a nationally notifiable disease in the United States and the prevalence of this disease, as with other tick-borne diseases, has been increasing since at least the year 2000. One aspect that has likely contributed to the increase in the prevalence of this disease is rising temperatures due to climate change. A promising method for control of tick populations is prescribed burning. In this study we develop a detailed mathematical model of ordinary differential equations to investigate the effect of rising temperatures on Amblyomma americanum populations in endemic and invasion scenarios. We used an impulsive system of ordinary differential equations to investigate the effects of prescribed burning on infectious ticks to determine if prescribed fire remains effective as temperatures increase under endemic and invasion scenarios.
Benjamin Mkongwe MSc. (2022)
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever: Basic reproduction number in a spatial domain
African Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Accra Ghana.
Recently, tick-borne illnesses have been trending upward and are an increasing source of risk to people’s health globally. This is due to range expansion in tick habitats because of climate change in places like the United States. In epidemic model involving systems of ordinary differential equation, the reproduction number ($\mathcal{R}_0$) have been used to quantify the risk post by infectious pathogen. If $\mathcal{R}_0>1$ the disease will persist in the population and control efforts maybe challenging. However, if $\mathcal{R}_0<1$, the disease will die out.
The reproduction is often calculated using the next generation approach, in this study, we explore ways to calculate the reproduction number of a system of partial differential. First, we will develop a tick-borne disease on a spatial domain, the developed model will incorporate the necessary biology of the tick life-circle. Using the results from the calculated reproduction number ($\mathcal{R}_0$) we will quantify the practical and cost-efficient way of managing tick populations.
Mayowa Ojo MSc. (2019)
Mathematical Modeling of Neisseria meningitidis: A Case Study of Nigeria
University of Kansas
BacterialmeningitisremainsoneofthedeadliestinfectiousdiseasesintheAfricanmeningitisbelt.Itisdefinedasanacuteinflammationofthemeninges,theprotectivemembranes thatcoverthebrainandspinalcord.Thisdeadlydiseasehasdifferentserogroupswithgeographicaldistributionandepidemicpotentialvaryingamongsteachserogroup.Todate, sixoftheseserogroupshavebeenidentifiedascausativeagentsofepidemics.Theeffectof thisdiseasecannotbeignoredduetoitshighmorbidityandmortality;however,vaccination hasplayedamajorroleinpreventingthespreadofthediseaseinthepopulation.Thework presentedherewasthereforedesignedtostudytheeffectofconstantandpulsevaccinationin controllingthediseaseinthepopulationusinganon-impulsivemodelandanimpulsivemodels.
Undergraduate Students
Many of my undergrads give their first presentation in major conferences working in my lab and some publish their first publication from work done in my lab, see Publications page .
No quantitative skills required only willingness to learn required.
Hiroko Kobayashi (2022)
Understanding mental health trends during COVID-19 pandemic in the United States using network analysis
University of Kansas
The emergence of COVID-19 in the United States resulted in a series of federal and state-level lock-downs and COVID-19 related health mandates to manage the spread of the virus. These policies may negatively impact the mental health state of the population. This study focused on the trends in mental health indicators following the COVID-19 pandemic amongst four United States geographical regions, and political party preferences. Indicators of interest included feeling anxious, feeling depressed, and worried about finances. Survey data from the Delphi Group at Carnegie Mellon University were analyzed using clustering algorithms and dynamic connectome obtained from sliding window analysis. Connectome refers to the description of connectivity on a network. United States maps were generated to observe spatial trends and identify communities with similar mental health and COVID-19 trends. Between March 3rd, 2021, and January 10th, 2022, states in the southern geographic region showed similar trends for reported values of feeling anxious and worried about finances. There were no identifiable communities resembling geographical regions or political party preference for the feeling depressed indicator. We observed a high degree of correlation among southern states as well as within Republican states, where the highest correlation values from the dynamic connectome for feeling anxious and feeling depressed variables seemingly overlapped with an increase in COVID-19 related cases, deaths, hospitalizations, and rapid spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant.
Emily Guo (2020)
Baptism of Fire: Modeling the Effects of Prescribed Fire on Lyme Disease
Washington University in St.Louis
Recently, tick-borne illnesses have been trending upward and are an increasing source of risk to people’s health in the United States. This is due to range expansion in tick habitats as a result of climate change. Thus, it is imperative to find a practical and cost-efficient way of managing tick populations. Prescribed burns are a common form of land management that can be cost-efficient if properly managed and can be applied across large amounts of land. In this study, we present a compartmental model for ticks carrying Lyme disease and uniquely incorporate the effects of prescribed fire using an impulsive system to investigate the effects of prescribed fire intensity (high and low) and the duration between burns. Our study found that fire intensity has a larger impact in reducing tick population than the frequency between burns. Furthermore, burning at high intensity is preferable to burning at low intensity whenever possible, although high-intensity burns may be unrealistic due to environmental factors. Annual burns resulted in the most significant reduction in infectious nymphs, which are the primary carriers of Lyme disease.
Martin Pollack EEB 2019 REU Student at KU 2019 Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium
Madison G. Mccall (KU Undergraduate) KU 2019 Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium
Arissa Mercer and Henry Guajardo EEB 2017 REU Students at the 2017 KU Undergraduate Summer Symposium
Eli Renfro KU Undergraduate at NIMBioS 2016 Undergraduate Conference
Eli Renfro in Smokey Mountain 2016
Former Undergraduate Students
Christy Allen APSU Undergraduate at NIMBioS 2012 Undergraduate Conference
Melissa Wickers, Justin Cook, and Patrick Shelton APSU Undergraduates at SIAM 2013 Conference
Kristin Knight
APSU Undergraduate
NIMBioS 2011 Undergraduate Conference
Olugbenga Kukoyi and Oluwaseun Olufemi Jaiyesimi (2003)
Ladoke Akintola University of Technology,Nigeria
My very first undergraduate students