September 2022 Newsletter

Current and Upcoming Activities

Fall 2022 Long Program: Confronting Global Climate Change, September 19-December 9, 2022

Climate change is already seriously impacting our lives in many ways. Threats to human and natural systems will increase as our planet continues to warm. This program will explore mathematical, statistical and computational strategies to better understand both the changes to the climate system and the associated impacts. A series of workshops will focus on climate models, detection and attribution of climate change, extreme weather and climate events, remote sensing, machine learning, and the economic consequences of climate change. This program aims to foster new multidisciplinary collaborations and integrate young scientists and researchers into industry, private sector, and academic research through these workshops and embedded research projects with affiliated universities, national laboratories, and private industry.

October 3-7, 2022: Climate and Weather Extremes

October 17-21, 2022: Detection and Attribution of Climate Change

October 31 - November 4, 2022: Machine Learning for Climate and Weather Applications

November 30 - December 2, 2022: Remote Sensing for Climate Analysis

December 7-9, 2022: Economic Impacts of Climate Change

November 11, 2022: BRING MATH

BRING MATH (BRIdges for the Next Generation: MATHematical Science Research and Our Future) is a one-day conference for undergraduates interested in the mathematical sciences. It is a collaboration between IMSI and the Mathematics and Computer Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory, and will be hosted at Argonne.

Activities during BRING MATH are expected to include

• dedicated sessions on topics such as climate & sustainability, data & information, quantum computing & information, and uncertainty quantification,
• tours of Argonne facilities such as the Advanced Photon Source and the Center for Nanoscale Materials,
• networking opportunities with researchers at Argonne, and
• a panel on career paths in the mathematical sciences.

Eligibility: This event is open to undergraduates at U.S. colleges and universities, and to faculty who wish to accompany a group of students from their institution to this event. Students from groups that are historically underrepresented in the mathematical sciences are strongly encouraged to apply.

Financial support: IMSI is able to offer financial support to cover travel and lodging for participants whose applications are accepted.

Deadlines: Applications from students and faculty who wish to attend are due no later than September 28, 2022. As part of their applications, students are asked to request a letter of recommendation from a faculty member who knows them and can speak to their potential to benefit from this event; those letters are due by October 5, 2022. If your application is accepted, offers of financial support will be made when you are informed of the decision.

Questions? Email [email protected].

January 9-February 3, 2023: Interdisciplinary and Critical Data Science Motivated by Social Justice

This research collaboration workshop will partner with the Institute for the Quantitative Study of Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (QSIDE), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that sits at the intersection of social science, humanities research, data science, and social justice. A hallmark of QSIDE work is interdisciplinary teamwork, which fosters collaboration between data scientists, social scientists, and community experts. This working group will gather the interdisciplinary expertise needed for current QSIDE projects together for data science for social good effort to 1) explore new statistical, computational, and qualitative approaches for analyzing social justice data, 2) to incorporate current scholarship on critical digital and data, and 3) to create infrastructure for and document these interdisciplinary collaborative efforts. We will open with a public minisymposium on critical data science practices and introduce data science for social justice work. We will then work to identify projects within our goal areas and create research teams. Throughout the program, we engage in discussions on the interdisciplinary and critical data science process and invite guest speakers related to the context areas of our explorations and/or to the methodologies we are using. The end of the program will conclude with a closing online minisymposium where participants will present work some, future directions, and open problems for the community.

Apply for Research Membership

Spring 2023 Long Program: Mathematics, Statistics, and Innovation in Medical and Health Care, March 4-May 24, 2023

The quantification of medical and health care has brought a revolution to our lives with strong and long-lasting social and economic positive impact. This quantification stems from an exemplary synergy among mathematics, statistics, data science, medicine, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), and has been prompting the creation of new interdisciplinary areas across the various fields. While there has been an unprecedented growth and development in many scientific directions, there is a continuing need to further develop existing areas and set the foundations for new ones, as the underlying issues and challenges are evolving in rather complex and interlinked ways. Indeed, creating new therapies has experienced a fast growth already but efficiently funding such innovations and, in turn, making them available at large-scale has its own distinct challenges and demand for new business models and novel decision-making mechanisms. Furthermore, personalized medicine is rapidly becoming a main component of medical care but many issues directly related to the patients’ attitude, risk communication and individual treatment decisions have not been neither extensively studied nor quantified.

The long-term program aims at creating an interdisciplinary platform for knowledge exchange and debate among the various stakeholders: mathematicians, statisticians, physicians, economists, computer scientists, policy makers and researchers in decision science, data science, ML, AI, business, operations research and engineering. The focus will be more on newer interdisciplinary themes like risk management, funding and R&D of biomedical innovation, health care system design, health care delivery, insurance coverage, personalized diagnostics and treatments, telemedicine, medical cyber-physical systems and others.

Apply for Spring 2023 Research Membership

Fall 2023 Long Program: Algebraic Statistics and Our Changing World: New Methods for New Challenges, September 18-December 15, 2023

Apply for Fall 2023 Research Membership

Spring 2024 Long Program: Data-Driven Materials Informatics: Statistical Methods and Mathematical Analysis, March 4-May 24, 2024

Apply for Spring 2024 Research Membership

IMSI Seeks Program and Workshop Proposals

IMSI is currently seeking proposals for long programs, workshops, and other scientific activity with a deadline of March 15, 2023. Information about how to submit proposals can be found on the proposal overview page and the resources linked therein. There are currently openings for long programs in 2025-26 and beyond, and openings for workshops in the summer of 2024 and beyond. IMSI holds two proposal cycles per year, with deadlines of March 15 and September 15.

First Season of Carry the Two Concludes

IMSI’s new podcast, Carry the Two recently concluded its first season. Episodes included Carrie Diaz Eaton on Equity in Policy Documents, Dario Bauso on Honeybees, Merouane Debbah on 5G, Richard Smith on 100-Year Floods, Sharon Di on Autonomous Vehicles, and Ben Reuveni on Statistical Learning. It will soon launch a mini-season with short episodes on math and baseball, climate and the environment, and a special episode for election day.

Carry the Two was recently featured on NPR’s Short Wave, a podcast that covers the “science behind the headlines.” In an episode entitled Carry The Two: Making Audio Magic With Math, IMSI’s Director of Communications and Engagement Sadie Witkowski addressed the barriers to sharing math with a wide audience and discussed ways to combat the public’s perception of math being too difficult to be interesting. Witkowski shared how Carry the Two aims to foster an appreciation for math and statistics and the ways that these fields unexpectedly impact our daily lives.

Carry the Two is hosted by Sadie Witkowski and Ian Martin. You can find a list of episodes on IMSI’s website at https://www.imsi.institute/podcast/ and can listen and subscribe on podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.

Seeking Writers for MathStatBites

IMSI recently launched MathStatBites, an educational blog that provides translations of mathematics and statistics research into digestible “bites.” MathStatBites is part of the ScienceBites galaxy. It offers early career researchers the opportunity to gain experience in writing accessible summaries of mathematical and statistical research for individuals who are not experts in those fields. It is intended to be a resource for students who are interested in learning more about new research and applications of mathematics and statistics and potential career avenues. The blog’s writers have the opportunity to exercise skills in interpreting highly technical research and presenting it in a way that is understandable to a broad audience.

We are currently recruiting writers for MathStatBites. If you are interested in becoming a writer for MathStatBites, contact Sadie Witkowski, Director of Communications and Engagement at IMSI at [email protected].

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IMSI acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation
(Grant No. DMS-1929348)

Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation
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