Michael H. Cortez

NSF Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellow
In Joshua Weitz's Lab in the School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology
Affiliate of the School of Mathematics

Curriculum Vitae

My CV can be downloaded here: MHC_CV.pdf

Research Interests

Ecology, Evolution, Epidemiology, Dynamical Systems

I am a mathematical biologist interested in developing general theory on the interactions between ecological processes and adpative processes (e.g. evolution or plasticity). I am particularly interested in how these processes interact and what consquences that has on the community dynamics of predator-prey and host-pathogen systems.

My dissertation research was on the different effects rapid evolution and rapid plastic responses have on the ecological dynamics of predator-prey systems. After moving to Georgia Institute of Technology, I began working on evolutionary dynamics in host-pathogen systems as well as parameter estimation and identifiability issues in host-pathogen systems. Currently I am working on extending my work on eco-evolutionary dynamics in predator-prey systems to the case where the predator and prey are co-evolving.

News

I recently recieved a NSF Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. The fellowship is an award of $150,000 over two years that will support my research on eco-coevolutionary dynamics.

I recently received the 2011 prize for an outstanding paper in ecology theory from the Theoretical Ecology Section of Ecological Society of America (ESA) for my paper "Comparing the qualitatively different effects of rapidly evolving and rapidly induced defences have on predator-prey interactions" published in the journal Ecology Letters.

Publications

Articles

M. H. Cortez, "When does pathogen evolution maximize R0 in well-mixed host-pathogen systems," to appear in Journal of Mathematical Biology (2012).

M. H. Cortez and J. S. Weitz, “Distinguishing between indirect and direct modes of transmission using epidemiological time series,” to appear in The American Naturalist (2012).

M. H. Cortez, "Comparing the qualitatively different effects rapidly evolving and rapidly induced defenses have on predator-prey interactions," Ecology Letters 14 (2011), p. 202-209.

M. H. Cortez and S. P. Ellner, "Understanding the effects of rapid evolution on predator-prey interactions using the theory of fast-slow dynamical systems," The American Naturalist 176 (2010), p. E109-E127.

Book Chapters

T. L. Bultman, T. J. Sullivan, M. H. Cortez and T. J. Pennings, "Extensions to and modulation of defensive mutualism in grass endophytes," Defensive Mutualism in Microbial Symbiosis, J. F. White and M. S. Torres, CRC Press, 2009, p. 301-317.