Martin I. Meltzer, Ph.D DEISS/NCPDCID/CCID/CDC: (Division of Emerging Infections and Surveillance Services, National Center for the Prevention, Detection and Control of Infectious Diseases, Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC))

*Abstract:* Public health policy makers face a wide array of planning problems, including how to prepare for the next influenza pandemic, assessing the value of vaccines and evaluating a variety of interventions. This talk will present some examples of the mathematical models, ranging from complex (agent based models requiring super computers) to the simple (using spreadsheets), that have been used to help public health officials make decisions. Also to be presented will be some suggested " rules of thumb" for producing mathematical models that public health officials may find useful.

*Bio:* Dr. Martin I. Meltzer is the Senior Health Economist and a Distinguished Consultant, Division of Emerging Infections and Surveillance Services, CDC in Atlanta, GA. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Zimbabwe in 1982, and Masters and a Doctorate in Applied Economics from Cornell University, NY, in 1987 and 1990, respectively. From 1990 to mid 1995 he was on the faculty at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Florida. In 1995, he moved to CDC, where he was in the first class of Prevention Effectiveness (health economists) fellows. Examples of his more recent research include the modeling of potential responses to smallpox as a bioterrorist weapon, examining the economics of vaccinating restaurant foodhandlers against hepatitis A, and assessing the economic impact of pandemic influenza. Dr. Meltzer has published approximately 140 publications, including more than 80 articles in peer-reviewed journals, two U.S. patents and ten book chapters. He also led teams which produced software, such as FluAid, FluSurge and FluWorkLoss, designed to help state and local public health officials plan and prepare of catastrophic infectious disease events. He is an associate editor for Emerging Infectious Diseases. He also supervises a number of post-doctoral health economists at CDC.

PZ Myers, Associate Professor of Biology, University of Minnesota, Morris

*Abstract:* PZ Myers be discussing the importance of the developmental perspective for understanding evolution, with examples of specific instances where molecular genetics has contributed to understanding why particular patterns evolved.

*Bio:* FOR ABOUT A DOZEN YEARS, PZ Myers has been among the fiercest, most public critics of the intelligent design movement. An early convert to the internet, he first embarked on the mission by posting on a Usenet group called Talkorigins. Over the years, he has poked away at ID in other forums, too, most notably in a well-regarded evolution-themed group blog called the Panda's Thumb. But Myers owes most of his notoriety to the personal weblog he created two and a half years ago, Pharyngula.org. The blog's name is a reference to the stage in development of vertebrate embryos in which various species most resemble each other. Given the obscurity of the domain name—and the often esoteric subject matter—it is a minor miracle that Myers has been able to cultivate such a large and loyal following. A Google search of his name yields more than a quarter of a million results. According to Alexa, the Amazon.com-owned website-ranking page, Pharyngula's idiosyncratic musings on science, culture, and politics—and his claw-hammer critiques of ID—have made him the most-read Minnesota blogger after the popular right-wing mainstays Power Line and Captain's Quarters. http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/about.php