USC Wonderkids: Exciting Computational Modeling Program for Fall 2020 🧠

USC Wonderkids is an after-school program hosted through USC's Joint Educational Project. The goal of Wonderkids is to provide a high-quality science curriculum to nearby elementary schools. Due to COVID-19, Wonderkids is operating completely via live Zoom sessions.

Wonderkids had a computational modeling week in mid October. Students started the week by discussing infectious disease and Covid-19. Students then made a model of a virus from materials found at home.

The students then met Dr. Stacey Finley who described her research and computational modeling of cancer cells. Dr. Finley included an activity in her presentation to develop a live mathematical model about the spread of Covid-19 which emulated the work she does on cancer cells.

Her Bio: Stacey D. Finley is the Gordon S. Marshall Early Career Chair and Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California. Dr. Finley received her undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from Florida A & M University and obtained her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University. She completed postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins University in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Finley joined the faculty at USC in 2013, and she leads the Computational Systems Biology Laboratory. Dr. Finley is also the Director of the Center for Computational Modeling of Cancer at USC. Her research is supported by grants from NSF, NIH, and the American Cancer Society.


Thank you to the Good Neighbors Campaign, the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Dr. Stacey Finley.

Video by Brooke McMahon

Music by Bensound