Lauren Marie Gardner is an American engineer who is an associate professor and co-director of the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

. She created the Johns Hopkins University dashboard that is used to share information about the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Gardner was included in ''Time''s 100 Most Influential People of 2020.

Early life and education

In 2006, Gardner received a B.S.Arch.E. in

architectural engineering Architectural engineers apply and theoretical knowledge to the engineering design of buildings and building systems. The goal is to engineer high performance buildings that are sustainable, economically viable and ensure the safety health. Archi ...

from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. In 2008, she received an M.S.E. in

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...

, also from UT-Austin. In 2011, Gardner earned her PhD in Transportation Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Her dissertation was on the topic of Network Prediction Models for Coupled Transportation-Epidemiological Systems.

Research and career

In 2011, Gardner was appointed a lecturer at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

(UNSW). She was a member of the UNSW Research Centre for Integrated Transport Innovation. This team coined the phrase “bio-secure mobility” to describe the new line of research pursued by Gardner. In summary, Gardner explores how people and things moving around our globalised world spread infectious disease. Her research considers the relationship between epidemiology and transport, making use of network optimisation to describe the spread of disease. She looked to avoid pandemics by identifying high-risk shipping and air traffic routes. She worked on a computer model that could help government officials in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

better assess which passengers are likely to suffer from infectious disease and virus outbreaks, and to help them decide where and when to screen passengers. Her models make use of air travel data, the suitability of habitats to vectors, the local transmission of a virus and passenger air travel data. She used the model to analyse the 2015–16 Zika virus epidemic in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

. During this same time, Gardner was a research fellow with the Australian Government's

National Health and Medical Research Council The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is the main statutory authority of the Australian Government responsible for medical research. It was the eighth largest research funding body in the world in 2016, and NHMRC-funded rese ...

(NHMRC) Centres of Research Excellence (CRE) in Population Health Research at the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

. In 2019, Gardner moved back to United States to work at

, where she serves as Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Center for Systems Science and Engineering. Here she has studied the United States counties that are most at risk of

measles Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...

outbreaks. Her analysis concluded that

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

King County, Washington King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the st ...

and

Miami-Dade County, Florida Miami-Dade County is a County (United States), county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the most populous county in ...

were most likely to suffer a measles outbreak . During the

, Gardner recognised that the public, researchers and health authorities needed clear, accessible and up-to-date information. Gardner and her first-year graduate student, Ensheng Dong, created an interactive dashboard that debuted on January 22, 2020. During March 2020
the platform
was accessed 1.2 billion times per day. In 2020 Gardner briefed the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

on the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United States The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the Uni ...

Honors

* 2006-2010: Engineering Thrust Fellowship * 2008, 2009, 2010: Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship * 2010: Robert Herman Endowed Scholarship * 2010: WTS Heart of Texas Chapter Scholarship for the Helene M. Overly Memorial Scholarship * 2012:

UNSW Sydney The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

, Staff Excellence Award * 2020: Gardner was on the list of the BBC's 100 Women announced on 23 November 2020. * 2022:

Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award The Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award, known until 2009 as the Mary Woodard Lasker Public Service Award, is awarded by the Lasker Foundation to honor an individual or organization whose public service has profoundly enlarged the possibilities ...

Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award 2022
/ref>

Selected works and publications

Works

* * * * * *

Publications

References

External links

Lauren Gardner
at

Whiting School of Engineering The G.W.C. Whiting School of Engineering is the engineering college of the Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. History Engineering at Johns Hopkins was originally created in 1913 as an educational p ...

COVID-19 Dashboard
by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, Lauren Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Johns Hopkins University faculty Women epidemiologists University of Texas at Austin alumni BBC 100 Women American epidemiologists 21st-century American scientists 21st-century American women scientists