Stopping the Next Pandemic at Its Source

75% of emerging infectious diseases in humans originate in animals, especially wildlife. Managing wildlife diseases is critical for preventing the next pandemic. 

In the South Korean horror film "Train to Busan," a zombie outbreak is sparked by a zombie deer. In reality, deer can indeed be infected with so-called "zombie deer disease," formally known as Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). It has no treatment, vaccine, or cure.  Prions, which cause the disease, can remain infectious in soil for decades and poses serious threats to wildlife, agriculture, and human health. 

I am currently working with wildlife disease ecologists at the Cornell Wildlife Health Lab and a network of wildlife agencies to develop and implement cost-effective management strategies for CWD. 

J. Wang, B. J. Hanley, N. E. Thompson, Y. Gong, D. P. Walsh, Y. Huang, C. Gonzalez-Crespo, J. G. Booth, J. N. Caudell, K. P. Hynes, L. A. Miller, and K. L. Schuler, Strategic Allocation of Surveillance and Prevention Resources for Emerging Wildlife Disease  

Conservation of Threatened Species

The Hainan gibbon is the rarest primate on the planet, with only 42 individuals known as of 2024.  Working with conservation biologists at the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, we use operations research approaches to optimize the conservation of this rare flagship species. 

Learn more about our work from the paper: 

J. Wang, X. Song,  R. Yousefi, Z. Jiang  Optimal Learning and Management of Threatened Species, Management Science (published online)

Managing Human-Wildlife Interface

Collision with large vessel is the leading cause of whale mortality. The collision risk can be reduced by the establishment of vessel speed reduction (VSR) zone, in which large vessels are asked to reduce speed. However, reducing speed is costly to the mariners and causing shipping delays, which leads to a low compliance rate. We analyze the satellite tracking data to understand how mariners dynamically adjust their speed near VSR, and use this knowledge to improve the VSR design. The goal is to jointly minimize the whale mortality and the economic impact to the shipping industry.

Y. Gong,  J. Wang, J. Zhang,  Saving Whales with Optimal Control (work in progress)