Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi touched down in Taiwan Tuesday, and an international relations expert from Tulane University expects a swift response from China, which claims the island nation as its own territory.

“The Chinese will certainly respond,” said Chris Fettweis, an associate professor of political science. “This will likely be in the form of military maneuvers, increased flyovers and missile drills. And we will have to respond to those actions.”

James “Mac” Hyman, the Evelyn and John G. Phillips Distinguished Professor in Mathematics at Tulane University, is using mathematical models to better understand and predict the spread of COVID-19 and to quantify the effectiveness of various efforts to stop it.
 
The goal of Hyman’s work in “mathematical epidemiology” at the Tulane School of Science and Engineering, is to help the public health community understand and anticipate the spread of the infection and evaluate the potential effectiveness of different approaches for bringing it under control.