NSF COMPASS Center

“There’s so much information waiting to be unlocked, verified, and made available to help develop better models.”

🎧 Fun fact: Naren measures his commute in podcast episodes, not miles!

#NSFCOMPASS #MeetTheTeam #AIResearch #STEM #PandemicPreparedness

As a Co-Investigator with the NSF COMPASS Center, he’s exploring how AI and machine learning can extract and organize data from scientific studies to improve models of virus inactivation.

🧠 Meet Dr. Naren Ramakrishnan, Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Sanghani Center for AI and Analytics at Virginia Tech!

“It’s exciting to help develop organoid models that can advance our understanding of infection and immunity while supporting COMPASS’s mission to forecast and control future pandemics.”

🌱 Fun fact: Padma loves classical music and gardening!

#NSFCOMPASS #MeetTheTeam #PandemicResearch #STEM

Her research focuses on engineered tissues, organoids, biomaterials, and stem cell differentiation. At COMPASS, she’s helping design organoids that use pluripotent stem cells and novel biomaterials to model how infections work.

📣 Meet Dr. Padma Rajagopalan – Robert E. Hord Jr. Professor of Chemical Engineering at Virginia Tech and co-Lead of the Replicate Thrust with the NSF COMPASS Center.

Proud moment for COMPASS! 🎉
Congrats to Hannah Brown (1st – Curious Questioner) and Blessy Antony (2nd – Methods Master) at Flip the Fair for turning complex viral research into stories kids could wonder at.

It’s an honor to turn complex viral research into stories that sparks wonder in kids!🧪✨

🌍 Fun fact: His family has roots in four countries–UK, Netherlands, France, and USA!

#COMPASSCenter #OrganoidResearch #StemCells #PandemicScience

At COMPASS, Dr. Bishop works with a diverse team of scientists to advance pandemic prediction and prevention.

“It is wonderful to work closely together with a diverse set of scientists… to predict and prevent future global pandemics.”

📣 Meet Dr. Colin Bishop, Professor at Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine and COMPASS co-investigator.

His research spans fertility genetics, stem cell biology, and organoids (human Organ Tissue Equivalents) used for toxicity testing and disease modeling.

Fun fact: She started her career as a diagnostician–and now focuses on research to solve the toughest diagnostic problems.

#COMPASSCenter #SciSky #OneHealth #VectorBiology #PathogenGenomics #Cornell #VirusResearch

At COMPASS, she’s teaming up with Dr. Kelly Speer to ask a bold question: could ticks spread mosquito-borne viruses? Their work is reshaping how we think about emergence.

“We are doing the groundwork to determine if ticks can spread mosquito-borne viruses as a new way to think about emergence.”

🧬 Meet Dr. Laura Goodman, NSF COMPASS Co-Investigator and Assistant Professor at Cornell University.

Her lab studies pathogen genomics, tackling antimicrobial resistance, tick-borne diseases, and virus discovery at the intersection of human, animal, and environmental health.

🌍 Fun fact: She once cooked and ate hippo along the Kavango River!

#COMPASSCenter #VirginiaTech #PandemicScience #PublicHealth

At COMPASS, Dr. Gerdes integrates lived experiences into pandemic science and studies how the public perceives pandemic risks–building more inclusive and trusted health responses.

“This project shows the power of humanists and scientists coming together to solve wicked challenges.”

Her research unpacks how people interpret risk messages about infectious disease, and her forthcoming book, "Infectious Urgency," explores how urgency rhetorics shape international public health responses.

📣 Meet Dr. Julie Gerdes, Assistant Professor of Technical & Scientific Communication at Virginia Tech and COMPASS Co-Investigator.

“We’re working to evaluate and enhance how interdisciplinary knowledge around pandemics is produced and integrated within COMPASS and across science.”

#COMPASSCenter #ScienceOfScience #KnowledgeIntegration #PandemicResearch #Cornell #InterdisciplinaryScience #InformationScience

His team is developing data-driven tools to improve how knowledge about pandemics is created, shared, and connected across disciplines.

Meet Dr. Yian Yin, Assistant Professor at Cornell and computational social scientist helping COMPASS understand how science works (and how to make it work better).

Fun fact: He’s a Formula 1 racing fan–and a loyal supporter of Scuderia Ferrari 🏁🏎️

#COMPASSCenter #SciSky #JumpThrust #VirusResearch #InfectiousDiseases #Formula1Fan #Ferrari #Virology #UMichigan

At COMPASS, he’s identifying viral traits that control host range, helping train foundation models that can predict future zoonotic threats.

“What excites me most about COMPASS is learning how machine learning can help solve major problems in infectious diseases.”

He studies how viruses mutate and evolve–tracking poliovirus, flu, and SARS-CoV-2 using advanced sequencing to better understand how viruses spread from person to person and across communities.

🦠 Meet Dr. Adam Lauring, COMPASS Jump co-lead, Professor of Internal Medicine, and Chief of Infectious Diseases at the University of Michigan.

#COMPASSCenter #SciSky #JumpThrust #AIForGood #KnowledgeGuidedML #ZoonoticViruses #PandemicPrediction #VirginiaTech

At COMPASS, he’s building models that predict mutations in viruses that could lead to zoonotic jumps.

“We’re building foundation models to predict mutations in viral sequences that lead to zoonotic jumps.”

🤖 Meet Dr. Anuj Karpatne, AI researcher, COMPASS co-investigator, and Jump thrust co-lead!

He’s an Associate Professor in Computer Science at Virginia Tech, and his work focuses on knowledge-guided machine learning–AI tools designed with science in mind.

🧬 Fun fact: While he humbly claims to lack fun facts, Dr. Parrish’s long-standing leadership and impact on virology speak for themselves.

#COMPASSCenter #VirusEvolution #JumpThrust #VeterinaryVirology #CornellUniversity #VirusResearch

At COMPASS, he’s part of the Jump thrust, digging into host barriers and viral evolution—how viruses jump species and cause new outbreaks.

“I focus on the host barriers to viruses and the evolutionary processes that lead them to cause epidemics in new hosts.”

He’s been studying viruses and how they evolve to infect new hosts for decades, with leadership roles across the virology field and honors from the American Academy of Microbiology and the National Academy of Sciences.