Research Overview

Dr. Mihaljevic is an Assistant Professor at Northern Arizona University’s School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems (SICCS), and he is an affiliate researcher at NAU’s Pathogen and Microbiome Institute. Research in our lab integrates across disciplines to understand the dominant drivers of pathogen transmission, with applications in wildlife conservation and public health. Grounded in epidemiological theory, we develop statistical computing techniques to rigorously link mechanistic models with diverse data sources, and we construct collaborative cyberinfrastructure to operationalize modeling techniques for real world applications.

Current Funded Research

We are exploring the combined effects of climate and disease on host extinction dynamics, using the tiger salamander and its Ranavirus, Ambystoma tigrinum virus, as a model system. Read more here.
Similarly, we are building models to test how temperature gradients affect the interactions between a marine fish, the Pacific herring, and two viral pathogens that have different thermal tolerances. Read more here.
We are building cyberinfrastructure, EpiMoRPH, to facilitate the construction, model-data fusion, and formal comparison of spatial epidemiological models across distinct geographies to better enable these models for use in public health. Read more here.
We are developing statistical and mathematical frameworks to better integrate mobility and social determinants of health into formal mathematical models of infectious disease. This will allow for more rapid identification of social factors that influence local and regional disease dynamics, and will improve local model forecasts of disease. This project was funded as part of the Southwest Health Equity Research Collaborative (SHERC), an NIH U54. Read more here.

Diversity in STEM Fields

Our lab is committed to supporting the growth of student scientists from diverse and historically underrepresented groups in the STEM fields, including those who identify as ethnic, racial, economic, religious and gender minorities, and those from the LGBTQ+ community. We believe that our science and our society are improved by recognizing and fostering diverse perspectives.