Courtney L. Davis

Professor of Mathematics

Natural Science Division, Seaver College

RAC 127

310.506.4582

Biography

Dr. Courtney Davis is an associate professor of mathematics at Pepperdine University. She also serves as program director of the Summer Undergraduate Research in Biology program. She earned her PhD in mathematics with a focus in mathematical biology at the University of Utah. In her research, Dr. Davis mathematically models how the immune response combats diseases such as Shigella and COVID-19. She also collaborates with students and local biologists to mathematically predict how best to protect native Santa Monica Mountain species from invasive crayfish. In addition, Dr. Davis created Pepperdine's Science Modeling Club for students to learn mathematical and scientific modeling in a fun environment

Education

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Center for Scientific Computation and Mathematical Modeling, University of Maryland, College Park, 2010-2012
PhD, Mathematics, University of Utah, 2010
MS, Mathematics, University of Utah, 2005
BA, Mathematics & BS, Biology, Trinity University, 2003, Summa Cum Laude

Research
Awards

AL Jenner, RA Aogo, S Alfonso, V Crowe, X Deng, AP Smith, PA Morel, CL Davis, AM Smith, M Craig. 2021. COVID-19 Virtual Patient Cohort Suggests Immune Mechanisms Driving Disease Outcomes, PLOS Pathogens 17(7): e1009753.
AL Jenner, RA Aogo, CL Davis, AM Smith, M Craig. 2020. Leveraging Computational Modelling to Understand Infectious Diseases, Current Pathobiology Reports. Curr Pathobiol Rep 8, 149-161.
SM Clifton, CL Davis, S Erwin, G Hamerlinck, A Veprauskas, Y Wang, W Zhang, H Gaff. Modeling the Argasid Tick (Ornithodoros moubata) Life Cycle. A Radunskaya et al. (eds.), Understanding Complex Biological Systems with Mathematics, Association for Women in Mathematics Series 14, Springer 2018.
CL Davis, R Wahid, FR Toapanta, JK Simon, and MB Sztein. 2018. A Clinically Parameterized Mathematical Model of Shigella Immunity to Inform Vaccine Design, PLOS ONE, 13(1): e0189571.
WR Milligan, MT Jones, LB Kats, TA Lucas, CL Davis. 2017. Predicting the Effects of Manual Crayfish Removal on California Newt Persistence in Santa Monica Mountain Streams, Ecological Modelling, 352, 139-151.
MT Jones, WR Milligan, LB Kats, TL Vandergon, RL Honeycutt, CL Davis, TA Lucas. 2017. A Discrete Stage-Structured Model of California Newt Population Dynamics During a Period of Drought, Journal of Theoretical Biology, 414, 245-253.
CL Davis, R Wahid, FR Toapanta, JK Simon, MB Sztein, and D Levy. 2013. Applying Mathematical Tools to Accelerate Vaccine Development: Modeling Shigella Immune Dynamics, PLOS ONE, 8(4), e59465.
CL Davis and FR Adler. 2013. Mathematical Models of Memory CD8+ T-Cell Repertoire Dynamics in Response to Viral Infections, Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, 75(3), 491-522.
C.L. Davis. Mathematical Models of Memory T-Cell Compartment Size and Repertoire Dynamics. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Utah, Aug 2010.
P Blain, C Davis, A Holder, J Silva, and C Vinzant. 2009. Diversity Graphs, in Clustering Challenges in Biological Networks, eds. S. Butenko, W. Chaovalitwongse and P. Pardalos, World Scientific, 129-150.

Frank R. Seaver Professor in Natural Science, Pepperdine University, 2023-2028
Seaver Fellow, 2016-2017
MAA Project NExT Fellow, 2012-2013
Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, 2002
Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society
Member: Society for Mathematical Biology, Mathematical Association of America, Association for Women in Mathematics

Topics

Mathematical Biology
Mathematical Modeling of Immunity
Mathematical Ecology
Applied Mathematics
Differential Equations and Dynamical Systems

Courses

Calculus I, II, & III
Business Calculus I & II
Linear Algebra
Biostatistics
Differential Equations
Partial Differential Equations