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ShareNick Clark wins Patterson Award
MAA SE Section Conference March 13 & 14
03/18/09
On March 13th Junior Nick Clark attended the SE section meeting of the MAA with Dr. Hem Raj Joshi. He was one of 5 undergraduates to receive a Patterson Award for his project:
Modeling and Optimizing HIV Treatment
Abstract:
Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is currently the standard treatment for the Human
Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). We modify an existing system of differential equations describing the inter-
action of the HIV virus with the human immune system. In this model, we incorporate variables representing
typical HAART treatment with three drugs: Two Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTIs) and
one Protease Inhibitor (PI). We form an optimality system which includes the adverse side-effects of these
drugs and solve this system numerically using the Runge-Kutta order four algorithm in order to determine
the treatment that will maximize the quantity of CD4+ T-cells in a patient (strengthening the immune
system) while minimizing hazardous side effects of the drug treatment on a patient's health.
Congratulations Nick !