Maria Rita D'Orsogna – CUDAN Lecture

When: 2025-05-26 16:00-18:00 (Tallinn time)
Where: A108 & online

The event is public via zoom:
https://zoom.us/j/94629959885?pwd=2NktNsXm0SzbzwwmfGbqlk5UZQoARw.1
Meeting ID: 946 2995 9885 Passcode: 007238

Speaker

Maria Rita D’Orsogna
Math Department, California State University Northridge

Lecture title
America’s overdose crisis: A historical and data-driven perspective
& Science for the Greater Good: Saving Italy from Big Oil

Abstract (part 1)
Drug abuse remains a major problem in the United States with overdose deaths increasing fivefold since 1999 and surpassing 100,000 annual fatalities every year since 2020. Peak mortality occurred in 2022 when more than 110,000 persons died from a drug overdose, mostly synthetic fentanyl and methamphetamines. We briefly discuss the history of drug consumption in the United States over the past 150 years, later focusing on recent quantitative trends. In particular, we review the impacts of different drug types on various populations and stratifying mortality data by age, sex, race, geographical location. We also show how data assimilation methods can be integrated with mathematical models to forecast future overdose trends. Time permitting, we will also present a mathematical method to describe the neurobiology of drug addiction, whereby substances of abuse activate and disrupt neuronal circuits in the brain reward system. Our model incorporates known psychiatric concepts such as incentive salience, reward prediction error, into a simple and easily interpretable dynamical system framework.

Abstract (part 2)
In 2007, Dr. Maria D’Orsogna learned of proposed oil activities in her home region of Abruzzo, Italy. Century-old wineries were to be uprooted to build oil wells, refineries, and pipelines, turning scenic Abruzzo into an oil district. Although based in California - 6,000 miles away - Maria took it upon herself to raise awareness and educate the public at large using her scientific training and her experience as an educator. Over the years, she traveled from town to town in Italy, educating citizens about environmental and health effects tied to hydrocarbon extraction, debating Big Oil, exposing political corruption, engaging the Catholic Church, putting pressure on decision makers to act for the common good. While in California, she used social networks and blogging to expose wrongdoings of the oil and gas industry, coordinate letter writings, keep raising awareness and spur action. Thanks to public uproar, spearheaded by Maria’s unwavering efforts, Abruzzo banned oil drilling and for the first time ever, the Italian parliament imposed a no-drill zone of 12 miles encompassing all of Italy’s 5,000-mile coastline. Overall, she helped stop at least 50 oil leases, and the construction of several refineries; she also helped save roughly 60,000 square miles of sea from drilling activities, earning the nickname “Erin Brockovich of Italy”. Maria’s story is a testament of how, by engaging with the community, scientists and educators can truly make a difference.

Website
https://www.csun.edu/~dorsogna/