The COVID-19 Research Coordination Group was established on March 12, 2020, and charged with promoting and supporting the pursuit of research initiatives on coronavirus and/or assisting with state and local community efforts to prevent, contain, and/or surveil COVID-19. The group is highly interdisciplinary, consisting of >150 members from 14 UArizona Colleges, including the health sciences, law, social and behavioral sciences, architecture, humanities, optical sciences, and engineering.

Ferriere brings his expertise in mathematical modeling of population dynamics. His lab and direct collaborators are currently working on the ecosystem consequences of rapid viral evolution in soil and ocean microbial communities. They are now rushing to adapt their approaches and tailor them to the question of SARS-CoV-2 evolution and its consequences for control. iGLOBES brings its focus on societal responses to global environmental challenges, using quantitative approaches and big data. Several on-going research programs at iGLOBES are highly relevant to the COVID-19 pandemics: the study of "sentinel" populations and territories; the origin and social impact of "preppers"; and the analysis of individual determinants in collective responses to environmental threats. For more information on iGLOBES, please contact Ruth Gosset.