Artificial Intelligence Transforms How UF Researchers Forecast and Respond to Disease
Highlights:
- As part of its AI Initiative, the University of Florida has expanded its AI offerings in the curriculum, increased the number of faculty members with AI expertise and made significant investments in computing infrastructure.
- UF is home to the HiPerGator, the nation’s most powerful supercomputer in higher education.
- Jason Blackburn, a member of the UF Emerging Pathogens Institute, uses AI to track Anthrax and forecast disease risk.
- Other EPI members Marco Salemi, Simone Marini and Mattia Prosperi use AI to predict new coronavirus variants.
In southwest Texas, the soil-dwelling bacteria Bacillus anthracis can persist in the environment. Every year, it puts livestock, wildlife and humans at risk of contracting the often-fatal disease anthrax.
But some years are more severe than others. Is there a way to know the likelihood of an outbreak beforehand? Jason Blackburn, Ph.D., a member of the University of Florida Emerging Pathogens Institute, is searching for patterns to help predict risk.
And like many other researchers at UF, Blackburn, a professor at the UF College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Department of Geography, has transformed his work with artificial intelligence.
Blackburn’s extensive experience tracking wildlife has perfectly prepared him for studying anthrax in Texas, where disease transmission is intertwined with how animals interact with the landscape.
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