Engineer Jason Shoemaker Receives NSF Award for Virtual Infection Modeling


Jason Shoemaker in a gray suit with a multicolored tie

Jason Shoemaker, assistant professor of chemical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, has received an NSF CAREER Award for $547,000 for his work modeling the immune system response to viral lung infections.

The predictive computational model will show how the human body will react to a viral lung infection and will flag biomarkers present for people whose immune systems react with excessive inflammation, which is what makes these infections so dangerous. Though it’s modeled on the influenza virus, once completed, it will be applicable to other viral lung infections, like COVID-19.