I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT in August 2008. I completed my S.M. in EECS at MIT in 2005, and graduated from Swarthmore College in 2003 with a B.A. in Mathematics and a B.S. in Engineering.

Research Interests

• mathematical ecology: human-environment interactions, spatial ecology.
• network dynamics: the spread of infectious disease, viral marketing, gossip, contact processes.
• network evolution: the interplay between dynamics and changing network topology.
• graph similarity methods: element-wise similarity scoring, global similarity measures, graph alignment.

Publications

• L.A. Zager, Infection processes on networks with structural uncertainty, Ph.D. Thesis, EECS, MIT, 2008. PDF
• L.A. Zager and G.C. Verghese, Epidemic thresholds for infections in uncertain networks, Complexity, to appear. PDF preprint
• L.A. Zager, A nonlinear threshold model for community response to environmental hazards, Journal of Difference Equations and Applications, v. 13, n.11, 1065-1078, 2007. PDF preprint DOI
• L.A. Zager and G.C. Verghese, Graph similarity scoring and matching, Applied Mathematics Letters, v. 21, n.1, 86-94, 2007. PDF preprint DOI
• L.A. Zager and G.C. Verghese, Caps and robbers: what can you expect?, College Mathematics Journal, v. 38, n. 3, 185-191. PDF preprint DOI
• Graph similarity and matching, Master's Thesis, EECS, MIT, 2005. PDF
• Active noise cancellation, E90 Senior Design Project Report, Swarthmore College, 2003. PDF

Presentations

• Ph.D. defense, May 2008. PDF (slides)
• Discrete-time models and epidemic thresholds for infections on networks, AMS Spring Eastern Meeting 2008, Courant Institute, NY, March 2008
• Epidemic thresholds for infections on networks, DIMACS/DyDAn Workshop on Computational Methods for Dynamic Social Networks 2007, Rutgers University, NJ, September 2007 PDF (slides)
• Exploring epidemic thresholds in networked populations, Understanding Complex Systems, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 2007 PDF (poster)
• Epidemics and networks: a little survey, 6.977 Networks and Dynamics Seminar, February 2006. PDF (slides) PDF (handout)
• Graph similarity, Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems Colloquium, March 2005. PDF (slides)
• Graph similarity, Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems Student Conference, January 2005. PDF (slides)

Teaching

• Presenter for the MIT Women's Initiative, January 2008.
• Discrete Math Instructor for the Women's Technology Program, Summer 2007 and 2008.
• Recitation Instructor (Fall 2007, Spring 2008) and Teaching Assistant (Fall 2006) for 6.011: Introduction to Communications, Signal Processing and Control.

Fellowships

• Martin Family Society of Fellows for Sustainability, 2006-2007.
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, 2003-2006.

Contact

E-mail is the best way to reach me: lzager AT alum DOT mit DOT edu.