Can mathematics help us understand, predict, and control infectious disease spread? Mathematical modeling is a rapidly growing area of infectious disease epidemiology with growing impact on decision-making and policy. In this talk, Professor Eisenberg will explore how mathematical models can be used to help forecast and design control strategies in the context of cholera, a waterborne intestinal infection that causes 3-5 million cases/year and over 100,000 deaths/year. She will discuss recent work modeling cholera epidemics in Haiti, Angola, and in Maela refugee camp in Thailand. She will examine some of the challenges when connecting models with data, and talk about some of the new developments in blending mathematics, statistics, and computation to improve public health.