Ben F. Maier

Complex Systems Research and Data Science

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I’m Ben, a post-doctoral researcher mainly studying how human behavior influences the spread of infectious diseases, but with widespread interest and experience regarding complex systems, network theory, data science, educational outreach, and algorithmic arts. Having a background in physics, I’m trained in analyzing and visualizing big data sets as well as searching for the fundamental mechanisms that shape a system’s behavior. My current position is with Dirk Brockmann, professor for theoretical biology at Humboldt University of Berlin and the Robert Koch Institute.

You’re cordially invited to investigate my full CV if you’re interested in further information.


Selected Publications

Effective containment explains subexponential growth in recent confirmed COVID-19 cases in China

2020

B. F. Maier*, D. Brockmann

COVID-19 lockdown induces structural changes in mobility networks — Implication for mitigating disease dynamics

2020

F. Schlosser*, B. F. Maier, D. Hinrichs, A. Zachariae, D. Brockmann

Abschätzung der Infektionswelle durch die SARS-CoV-2 VOC Omikron

2022

B. F. Maier*, A. Burdinski, M. Wiedermann, M. an der Heiden, T. Harder, F. Schlosser, D. Brockmann

Germany's current COVID-19 crisis is mainly driven by the unvaccinated

2021

B. F. Maier*, M. Wiedermann, A. Burdinski, P. Klamser, M. A. Jenny, C. Betsch, D. Brockmann

epipack: An infectious disease modeling package for Python

2021

Potential benefits of delaying the second mRNA COVID-19 vaccine dose

2021

B. F. Maier*, A. Burdinski, A. H. Rose, F. Schlosser, D. Hinrichs, C. Betsch, L. Korn, P. Sprengholz, M. Meyer-Hermann, T. Mitra, K. Lauterbach, D. Brockmann

Digital contact tracing contributes little to COVID-19 outbreak containment

2021

A. Burdinski*, D. Brockmann, B. F. Maier*

Thresholding normally distributed data creates complex networks

2020

G. T. Cantwell*, Y. Liu, B. F. Maier*, A. C. Schwarze, C. A. Serván, J. Snyder, G. St-Onge

Commentary: A network science summer course for high school students

2020

F. Klimm*, B. F. Maier*

Combining clinical epidemiology, NGS-based analysis and modelling approaches to reveal transmission dynamics of vancomycin-resistant enterococci in a high risk population within a tertiary care hospital

2020

B. Neumann*, J. K. Bender, B. F. Maier, A. Wittig, S. Fuchs, T. Semmler, D. Brockmann, H. Einsele, S. Kraus, L. H. Wieler, U. Vogel, G. Werner

Netwulf: Interactive visualization of networks in Python

2019

Generalization of the small-world effect on a model approaching the Erdős-Rényi random graph

2019

Modular hierarchical and power-law small-world networks bear structural optima for minimal first passage times and cover time

2019

B. F. Maier*, C. Huepe, D. Brockmann

Cover time for random walks on arbitrary complex networks

2017

B. F. Maier*, D. Brockmann

Selected Open-Source Software

epipack

github.com/benmaier/epipack, Build epidemiological models for analytical and numerical analyses as well as network simulations

netwulf

github.com/benmaier/netwulf, Interactive visualizations of networks

tacoma

github.com/benmaier/tacoma, C++ and Python package for the analysis and simulation of temporal networks in continuous time

cMHRN

github.com/benmaier/cMHRN, fast creation of modular-hierarchical, power-law, and regular small-world networks

QSuite

github.com/benmaier/qsuite, a command-line interface for efficient management and analysis of simulations on compute clusters

binpacking

github.com/benmaier/binpacking, optimal distribution of weights to containers

fisheye

github.com/benmaier/fisheye, JavaScript library for local magnification of data in visualizations