IOB Doctoral Candidate Omid Arhami Earns 2026 James L. Carmon Scholarship Award

akingmosley on March 30, 2026

A man wearing glasses and a dark checkered shirt stands outdoors in front of a tree and a tiled wall, smiling at the camera—a classic pose among graduate students enjoying a break from their studies.

A man wearing glasses and a dark checkered shirt stands outdoors in front of a tree and a tiled wall, smiling at the camera—a classic pose among graduate students enjoying a break from their studies.

Omid Arhami, a doctoral student in the Institute of Bioinformatics (IoB), is recognized for innovative research that advances the ability to predict infectious disease threats by linking viral evolution to population-level outbreaks. Working under the advisement of IoB’s Pejman Rohani, Arhami conducts research at the intersection of bioinformatics, statistics, and epidemiology, developing new computational methods to identify which viral mutations drive meaningful changes in immune response—an essential challenge in vaccine design and pandemic preparedness. Arhami is the developer of Topolow, a novel algorithm that transforms sparse and incomplete viral data into accurate antigenic maps, overcoming limitations that have constrained the field for decades. Published in Bioinformatics and released as open-source software, the method is already being adopted by researchers across immunology and related life sciences. Arhami’s work also connects molecular change to epidemic dynamics, with applications to influenza and other rapidly evolving pathogens, reflecting an ambitious and impactful research profile. 

For more informaiton on this award: https://research.uga.edu/research-awards/james-l-carmon-scholarship-award-2026/