Swarun Kumar

The emergence of the novel COVID-19 virus sheds the light on the critical role of evolutionary adaptations in enabling pathogen establishment in new host species. We present a mathematical theory that characterizes the role of evolutionary adaptations on the spread of pathogens on clustered contacts networks, hence pushing the frontiers of network epidemics one step closer to reality. Clustering is characterized by the phenomenon that two individuals who have mutual friends are likely to be friends; more generally, it is characterized by the existence of groups of individuals with dense contact patterns internally and sparse contact patterns externally. Indeed, the prevalence of clustering in real-world contact networks signals its importance and significant impact on the behavior of various spreading processes.