7 p.m. in the Emert Auditorium (Room 130) of the Eccles Science Learning Center on the USU campus. (For directions, click here.)

"Mathematics and the Life-Impaired: How the Theory of Disease Predicts the Zombie Apocalypse"

"Here a zombie, there a zombie, everywhere a zombie, zombie..."

From movies to pop music ("If I were a zombie, I'd never eat your brain...), it seems the undead are already taking over the world. The usually staid Centers for Disease Control launched its tongue-in-cheek "Preparedness 101: Zombie Apolcalypse" public campaign last year to drive home the importance of emergency preparation. Even USU has been infected as evidenced by USU Housing’s wildly popular, campus-wide “Humans vs. Zombies” war this past fall.  

Anthropologist Krystal D'Costa suggests zombies capture our imagination because they represent modern society and technology gone awry and offer the perfect metaphor for an unstoppable pandemic.

Friday, Feb. 24th, USU professor Jim Powell expands the zombie metaphor to illustrate the concepts and results of mathematical epidemiology. Using storylines from such movies as "Night of the Living Dead," "28 Days Later," "The Walking Dead" and "I am Legend," as well as data from the USU games, Dr. Powell will show how mathematicians model an epidemic. He'll talk about how scientists predict the course and impact of epidemics, discuss how "herd immunity" (vaccination levels for disease eradication) works and discuss the evolution of reduced virulence.

Following Dr. Powell's talk, Science Unwrapped attended are invited to enjoy free refreshments and a variety of hands-on learning activities coordinated by students and faculty in USU's Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

Join us at 7 p.m. in the Emert Auditorium (Room 130) of the Eccles Science Learning Center.

Costumes welcome!