Ben F. Maier

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
B. F. Maier*, D. Brockmann
COVID-19 lockdown induces structural changes in mobility networks — Implication for mitigating disease dynamics
F. Schlosser*, B. F. Maier, D. Hinrichs, A. Zachariae, D. Brockmann
Abschätzung der Infektionswelle durch die SARS-CoV-2 VOC Omikron
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
B. F. Maier*, M. Wiedermann, A. Burdinski, P. Klamser, M. A. Jenny, C. Betsch, D. Brockmann
- arXiv: 2111.12806
- doi: 10.1101/2021.11.24.21266831
epipack: An infectious disease modeling package for Python
B. F. Maier*
Potential benefits of delaying the second mRNA COVID-19 vaccine dose
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
- arXiv: 2102.13600
Digital contact tracing contributes little to COVID-19 outbreak containment
A. Burdinski*, D. Brockmann, B. F. Maier*
Thresholding normally distributed data creates complex networks
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
F. Klimm*, B. F. Maier*
- Network Science, 1-13
- arXiv: 2005.02487
- doi: 10.1017/nws.2020.12
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
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
U. Aslak*, B. F. Maier*
Generalization of the small-world effect on a model approaching the Erdős-Rényi random graph
B. F. Maier*
Modular hierarchical and power-law small-world networks bear structural optima for minimal first passage times and cover time
B. F. Maier*, C. Huepe, D. Brockmann
Cover time for random walks on arbitrary complex networks
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