Shweta Bansal

Shweta Bansal is a Professor at the Department of Biology at Georgetown University. She also serves as graduate faculty in the Global Infectious Diseases PhD Program and the Biology PhD Program and is an Affiliate Faculty for the Massive Data Institute, the Global Health Institute, and Earth Commons. With a passion for interdisciplinary approaches, she has made significant contributions to mathematical epidemiology, disease ecology, network science, and public health.

Dr. Bansal completed her undergraduate studies at Santa Clara University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Computer Science. She then pursued her graduate education at the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned an M.S. in Computational & Applied Mathematics and a Ph.D. in mathematical epidemiology with a focus on network modeling. Her doctoral research focused on developing innovative mathematical models and algorithms to better understand the spread and design effective control strategies for infectious diseases within populations.

After completing her doctorate, Dr. Bansal became a fellow of the prestigious RAPIDD Postdoctoral Program (of the US National Institutes of Health and the Department of Homeland Security) and developed novel methods for understanding the spread of foreign animal diseases of national security concern. During this time, she also advised the Subcommittee on Foreign Animal Disease Threats of the National Science and Technology Council.

At Georgetown University, Dr. Bansal leads an interdisciplinary research group that develops data-driven mathematical models for human and animal disease systems using tools from network science, statistical physics, computer science, and statistics. Her research group is integrative, comprising undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, master's, PhD, and postdoctoral researchers, and is committed to rigorous and ethical science.

Dr. Bansal's research has garnered widespread recognition for its practical applications in public health. Her work often involves leveraging large-scale datasets and advances computational techniques to understand disease dynamics and inform public health and animal health decision-making. Her work has been published in esteemed scientific journals, and she regularly presents invited talks at international conferences. She has garnered support for her lab's research from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, as well as private funders.

Beyond her research endeavors, Dr. Bansal is deeply committed to teaching and mentorship. She has supervised numerous graduate and undergraduate students, guiding them in their research and to pursue careers in computational epidemiology and public health. Her teaching style combines her expertise in mathematics and epidemiology to deliver engaging and thought-provoking lectures.

Outside of academia, Dr. Bansal is an advocate for translating scientific research into actionable policy interventions. She actively engages with policymakers and public health practitioners to ensure that her work has a tangible impact on global health outcomes. Additionally, she is involved in various community outreach initiatives aimed at raising awareness about the importance of an inclusive, diverse, and just future for the next generation of scientists.