Nita Bharti
Huck Early Career Professor; Associate Professor of Biology

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W253 Millennium Science Complex
University Park, PA 16802 - She/Her
- nita@psu.edu
- 814-863-9545
Research Summary
The Bharti lab investigates the underlying links between humans, pathogens, and the environment. We work to identify the mechanisms that give rise to heterogeneities in host disease burden and risk across scales, across spatial and temporal scales. We study the dynamics of host-environment interactions that drive movement and contact patterns as they relate to to pathogen transmission and access to health care.
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Publication Tags
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Population Ecology Students Climate Change Chiroptera Coronavirus Satellite Imagery Antibodies Vaccination Viruses Virus Niger Health Information Storage And Retrieval Nigeria Winter Hendra Henipavirus History Fluctuations Student Sars Virus Vegetation Pandemics Accidental Falls Human PopulationMost Recent Publications
Environmental variation across multiple spatial scales and temporal lags influences Hendra virus spillover
Christina L. Faust, Adrian A. Castellanos, Alison J. Peel, Peggy Eby, Raina K. Plowright, Barbara A. Han, Nita Bharti, 2023, Journal of Applied Ecology on p. 1457-1467
Habitat loss for black flying foxes and implications for Hendra virus
Kelsee Baranowski, Nita Bharti, 2023, Landscape Ecology on p. 1605-1618
Large university with high COVID-19 incidence is not associated with excess cases in non-student population
Nita Bharti, Brian Lambert, Cara Exten, Christina Faust, Matthew Ferrari, Anthony Robinson, 2022, Scientific Reports
Assessing the asymptomatic proportion of SARS-CoV-2 infection with age in China before mass vaccination
Zengmiao Wang, Peiyi Wu, Jingyuan Wang, José Lourenço, Bingying Li, Benjamin Rader, Marko Laine, Hui Miao, Ligui Wang, Hongbin Song, Nita Bharti, John S. Brownstein, Ottar N. Bjornstad, Christopher Dye, Huaiyu Tian, 2022, Journal of the Royal Society Interface
Author Correction: Ecology, evolution and spillover of coronaviruses from bats (Nature Reviews Microbiology, (2022), 20, 5, (299-314), 10.1038/s41579-021-00652-2)
Manuel Ruiz-Aravena, Clifton McKee, Amandine Gamble, Tamika Lunn, Aaron Morris, Celine E. Snedden, Claude Kwe Yinda, Julia R. Port, David W. Buchholz, Yao Yu Yeo, Christina Faust, Elinor Jax, Lauren Dee, Devin N. Jones, Maureen K. Kessler, Caylee Falvo, Daniel Crowley, Nita Bharti, Cara E. Brook, Hector C. Aguilar, Alison J. Peel, Olivier Restif, Tony Schountz, Colin R. Parrish, Emily S. Gurley, James O. Lloyd-Smith, Peter J. Hudson, Vincent J. Munster, Raina K. Plowright, 2022, Nature Reviews Microbiology on p. 315
COVID-19 Mitigation Among College Students: Social Influences, Behavioral Spillover, and Antibody Results
Rachel Smith, Meg Small, Nita Bharti, Samuel DeMatte, Robert P. Lennon, Matthew Ferrari, Data4Action Research Group, 2022, Health Communication on p. 1--10
College students’ COVID-19 vaccine beliefs and intentions: Implications for interventions
Meg Small, Robert P. Lennon, John J. Dziak, Rachel Smith, Gillian Sommerville, N Bharti, G Sommerville, Nita Bharti, Data 4 Action Research Group, 2022, Journal of American College Health on p. 1-6
A longitudinal study of the impact of university student return to campus on the SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among the community members
Callum R.K. Arnold, Sreenidhi Srinivasan, Sophie Rodriguez, Natalie Rydzak, Catherine M. Herzog, Abhinay Gontu, Nita Bharti, Meg Small, Connie J. Rogers, Margeaux M. Schade, Suresh V. Kuchipudi, Vivek Kapur, Andrew F. Read, Matthew J. Ferrari, 2022, Scientific Reports on p. 8586
Transient disease dynamics across ecological scales
Yun Tao, Jessica L. Hite, Kevin D. Lafferty, David J.D. Earn, Nita Bharti, 2021, Theoretical Ecology on p. 625-640
Ecology, evolution and spillover of coronaviruses from bats
Manuel Ruiz-Aravena, Clifton McKee, Amandine Gamble, Tamika Lunn, Aaron Morris, Celine E. Snedden, Claude Kwe Yinda, Julia R. Port, David Buchholz, Yao Yu Yeo, Christina Faust, Elinor Jax, Lauren Dee, Devin N. Jones, Maureen K. Kessler, Caylee Falvo, Daniel Crowley, Nita Bharti, Cara E. Brook, Hector C. Aguilar, Alison J. Peel, Olivier Restif, Tony Schountz, Colin R. Parrish, Emily S. Gurley, James O. Lloyd-Smith, Peter J. Hudson, Vincent J. Munster, Raina K. Plowright, 2021, Nature Reviews Microbiology on p. 299-314
Most-Cited Papers
Approaching the limit of predictability in human mobility
Xin Lu, Erik Wetter, Nita Bharti, Andrew J. Tatem, Linus Bengtsson, 2013, Scientific Reports
Ecology, evolution and spillover of coronaviruses from bats
Manuel Ruiz-Aravena, Clifton McKee, Amandine Gamble, Tamika Lunn, Aaron Morris, Celine E. Snedden, Claude Kwe Yinda, Julia R. Port, David Buchholz, Yao Yu Yeo, Christina Faust, Elinor Jax, Lauren Dee, Devin N. Jones, Maureen K. Kessler, Caylee Falvo, Daniel Crowley, Nita Bharti, Cara E. Brook, Hector C. Aguilar, Alison J. Peel, Olivier Restif, Tony Schountz, Colin R. Parrish, Emily S. Gurley, James O. Lloyd-Smith, Peter J. Hudson, Vincent J. Munster, Raina K. Plowright, 2021, Nature Reviews Microbiology on p. 299-314
Ebola: Mobility data
M. Elizabeth Halloran, Alessandro Vespignani, Nita Bharti, Leora R. Feldstein, K. A. Alexander, Matthew Ferrari, Jeffrey Shaman, John M. Drake, Travis Porco, Joseph N.S. Eisenberg, Sara Y. Del Valle, Eric Lofgren, Samuel V. Scarpino, Marisa C. Eisenberg, Daozhou Gao, James M. Hyman, Stephen Eubank, Ira M. Longini, 2014, Science on p. 433
Remotely measuring populations during a crisis by overlaying two data sources
Nita Bharti, Xin Lu, Linus Bengtsson, Erik Wetter, Andrew J. Tatem, 2015, International Health on p. 90-98
Measuring populations to improve vaccination coverage
Nita Bharti, Ali Djibo, Andrew J. Tatem, Bryan T. Grenfell, Matthew J. Ferrari, 2016, Scientific Reports
The influence of vector-borne disease on human history: socio-ecological mechanisms
Tejas S. Athni, Marta S. Shocket, Lisa I. Couper, Nicole Nova, Iain R. Caldwell, Jamie M. Caldwell, Jasmine N. Childress, Marissa L. Childs, Giulio A. De Leo, Devin G. Kirk, Andrew J. MacDonald, Kathryn Olivarius, David G. Pickel, Steven O. Roberts, Olivia C. Winokur, Hillary S. Young, Julian Cheng, Elizabeth A. Grant, Patrick M. Kurzner, Saw Kyaw, Bradford J. Lin, Ricardo C. Lopez, Diba S. Massihpour, Erica C. Olsen, Maggie Roache, Angie Ruiz, Emily A. Schultz, Muskan Shafat, Rebecca L. Spencer, Nita Bharti, Erin A. Mordecai, 2021, Ecology Letters on p. 829-846
Fluctuations in anthropogenic nighttime lights from satellite imagery for five cities in Niger and Nigeria
Nita Bharti, Andrew J. Tatem, 2018, Scientific data
Opportunities and constraints in women's resource security amid climate change: A case study of arid-living Namibian agro-pastoralists
Ashley Hazel, Gillian Meeks, Nita Bharti, John Jakurama, Justy Matundu, James Holland Jones, 2021, American Journal of Human Biology
Transient disease dynamics across ecological scales
Yun Tao, Jessica L. Hite, Kevin D. Lafferty, David J.D. Earn, Nita Bharti, 2021, Theoretical Ecology on p. 625-640
Linking human behaviors and infectious diseases
Nita Bharti, 2021, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
News Articles Featuring Nita Bharti
Jul 06, 2023
Mobile phone data used for public health underrepresent vulnerable populations
Mobile phone data are increasingly used in public health management and disease outbreak response, as demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic when location data were used as a proxy for human movement and contacts.
Full Article
Jun 12, 2023
Penn State announces tenure-line faculty promotions, effective July 1, 2023
The following is a list of academic promotions for tenured and tenure-line faculty members at Penn State, effective July 1, 2023.
Full Article
Aug 31, 2022
Penn State team awarded $2.3M to assess disease vulnerability, improve response
An interdisciplinary team from Penn State has been awarded $2.3M from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation’s joint Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease (EEID) program to evaluate the vulnerability of certain populations to disease outbreaks, with the goal of improving outbreak response and preventing future outbreaks.
Full Article
Jan 27, 2022
Nita Bharti to deliver 2022 Darwin Day Lecture
Nita Bharti, Penn State assistant professor of biology, will deliver a virtual lecture titled “Adaptation for Survival: Humans and Their Pathogens” at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 10, as part of Penn State’s 2022 Darwin Day celebration. Advance registration is required for the event, which is open to the public.
Full Article
Jan 11, 2022
Researchers use satellites to monitor bat habitat and study virus spillover
Over the last year and a half, the word "remote" has come to dominate a large portion of our collective consciousness. We’ve had to work remotely, learn remotely, and even socialize remotely. But before the pandemic, because of the nature of their research, remote was already a part of the daily lexicon of some Penn State researchers.
Full Article
Dec 20, 2021
Sports Leagues Are Showing Us Just How Bad Omicron Could Get
Even some of the healthiest and most highly vaccinated communities in the country are being ravaged by the new variant.
Full Article
Oct 25, 2021
Traffic and mobile phone data predict COVID case counts in rural Pennsylvania
How much people moved around town predicted COVID-19 cases in a rural Pennsylvania county in 2020, according to a new study by researchers at Penn State.
Full Article
Jul 15, 2021
Australian megafires burn critical habitat of 'Vulnerable' virus-harboring bats
The severe megafires that occurred in eastern Australia during 2019-20 were much larger and more concentrated across the landscape than in previous years, according to a study by researchers at Penn State and the University of New South Wales. The unprecedented fires included the burning of 34% of the foraging habitat of grey-headed flying foxes, which are known to transmit deadly Lyssa and Hendra viruses.
Full Article
Jun 23, 2021
Behavior limits COVID-19 spread between University and community
When universities across the U.S. opted to return students to campus for in-person learning during the coronavirus pandemic in the fall of 2020, surrounding communities were understandably concerned that COVID-19 infections rates would significantly increase. In response, several Penn State researchers formed the Centre County COVID-19 Data 4 Action Project (D4A) to conduct anonymous surveys and biological testing for nonstudent residents and Penn State students to document the social and economic impacts of the pandemic in one community.
Full Article
Feb 02, 2021
Vector-borne diseases shaped human history and reveal race disparities
Vector-borne diseases (VBDs), such as plague, malaria and yellow fever, have significantly shaped society and culture, according to an international team of researchers. In a study published in Ecology Letters on Jan. 27, the team used historical evidence interpreted through an ecological lens to illustrate how VBDs have influenced human history, with particular attention to how VBDs have reinforced and exacerbated racism.
Full Article