“Modeling, Analysis, and Control of Spreading Processes over Networks“

Abstract:
Different types of malicious software that can infect systems, including viruses, worms, trojans, ransomware, etc., are often modeled using spreading processes. In this work we present and analyze mathematical models for network-dependent spread. We introduce a class of reproduction numbers that extends the scalar approach to capture overall behavior in the networked setting. We show how these networked reproduction numbers capture local as well as global behavior. We then discuss safety-critical control of spreading processes, presenting results that encourage cooperation between nodes to ensure safety. 

Bio:
Philip E. Paré is the Rita Lane and Norma Fries Assistant Professor in the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2018, after which he went to KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden to be a Post-Doctoral Scholar. He received his B.S. in Mathematics with University Honors and his M.S. in Computer Science from Brigham Young University in 2012 and 2014, respectively. He was a 2023 recipient of the NSF CAREER award, an inaugural Societal Impact Fellow at Purdue in 2021, and a 2023 Teaching for Tomorrow Fellow at Purdue as well. His research focuses on networked control systems, namely modeling, analysis, and control of virus spread over networks.