Nicas, Mark

Dr. Nicas has two primary research interests. First, he develops mathematical models to estimate exposure intensity to airborne chemical toxicants. Such models consider the pollutant emission rate and the dispersion pattern in air. Dr. Nicas uses two approaches - a traditional method based on deterministic differential equations and a probabilistic method involving Markov chain techniques. Second, he develops probability models for infection by airborne pathogens (e.g., M. tuberculosis, Y. pestis, C. immitis), with an immediate application to the risk-based selection of personal respiratory protection.