Claus Kadelka presents Spring ’25 Dean’s Distinguished Lecture

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean’s Distinguished Lecture Series highlights faculty excellence in learning, discovery, and engagement in Iowa State’s most academically diverse college. Each semester, the dean invites LAS faculty of distinction to present lectures from their own areas of expertise on topics of interest to the general public, designed to stimulate high-quality, intellectual discussion among faculty, staff, students, and community members. Lectures are held during the fall and spring semesters during the academic year.

Claus Kadelka, Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics, was selected by Dean Benjamin Withers to deliver the Spring 2025 LAS Dean’s Distinguished Lecture on Tuesday, April 1, at 6 p.m. The lecture, “The Next Pandemic Could Strike at Any Time: Are we Prepared?” will be presented in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union and will also be available virtually.

Kadelka’s lecture bridges a variety of disciplines from mathematics and statistics to sociology, biology, and public health, to explore how refined infectious disease models can better predict and mitigate future outbreaks. Sprinkling his talk with compelling examples from his extensive research, Kadelka will demonstrate how multi-disciplinary insights can lead to more accurate, real-world epidemic models and ultimately guide effective public health interventions. He became passionate about this work because it merges his deep interest in mathematical biology with a commitment to safeguarding community health, ensuring that both scientific innovation and public welfare move forward together.

In his research, Claus Kadelka applies methods from his training in mathematics and medical virology to tackle critical challenges in two broad areas. As the Lead PI of a multi-institutional National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, he works to deepen our understanding of gene regulatory networks, which fundamentally control how our cells function. Working towards better future pandemic preparedness, Kadelka further combines rigorous theoretical analysis with advanced computational techniques to uncover how human behavior and complex social processes intertwine in disease spread. His work particularly focuses on the impact of heterogeneities—like the tendency of individuals to interact more likely with others who share similar traits—on the transmission of pathogens.

A live Q&A session with Kadelka will follow the lecture.

This event is free and open to the public.