2016 Industrial Math/Stat Modeling Workshop for Graduate Students – July 17-27, 2016

Registration for this workshop is currently closed.

To apply, please submit a CV, a transcript, and a statement of interest. A letter of recommendation must be submitted by your advisor. Notifications of acceptance will be sent in May 2016. Students must be registered graduate students at a US university at the time of the IMSM workshop.

Application deadline: May 15, 2016

Location: The IMSM workshop will held in SAS Hall on the campus of North Carolina State University.

Objective: Graduate students in mathematics, statistics, and computational science will be exposed to challenging and exciting real-world problems arising in industrial and government laboratory research. Students will also experience the team approach to problem solving.

Setup:

The IMSM workshop will start with the workshop “Building Software in Teams”  on 18 July, taught by John Pearson (Duke).  Students will collaborate in teams of 5-7 on industrial projects presented by experienced scientists and engineers. These projects are not academic classroom exercises but ”real-world” challenges that require fresh new insight for both formulation and solution. Each team will be mentored by both, a problem presenter and a faculty adviser.

Projects:

Sandia National Laboratories
Project: Uncertainty-enabled Thermal Stress Management of Engineered Multilayered Structures
Project presenters: Jordan Massad (Sandia), Robert Kuether (Sandia), Ralph Smith (NCSU)

US Environmental Protection Agency
Project: Fusing surface and satellite-derived PM observations to determine the impact of international transport on coastal PM2.5 concentrations in the western U.S.
Project presenters: Elizabeth Mannshardt (EPA), Brett Gantt (EPA), Jessica Matthews (CICS), Alen Alexanderian (NCSU), Arvind Saibaba (NCSU)

US Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research & Development Center
Project: Using Remote Sensing for Bathymetry Estimation in Coastal Environments
Problem presenters: Ty Hesser (USACE), Lea Jenkins (Clemson)

US Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research & Development Center
Project: Distilling Ecological Value from Hydraulic Complexity
Problem presenters: Matthew Farthing (USACE), Bertrand Lemasson (USACE), Kimberly Kaufeld (NCSU)

Pfizer
Project: Quantitative approaches for the examination of physiological variability in cardiometabolic disease
Problem presenters: Ted Rieger (Pfizer), H.T. Banks (NCSU)

Rho, Inc.
Project: Finding Patterns in Protein Chip Data to Probe the Immunological Mechanisms of Nut Allergies
Problem presenters: Agustin Calatroni (Rho), David Hall (Rho), Emily Lei Kang (U. Cincinnati)

Final Program Report

Benefits to students: Do you think your class work reflects how you will be using mathematics and statistics on the job? Sometimes the biggest challenge is figuring out what the real problem is. In the IMSM workshop you will learn how to tackle such challenges, and as part of a team you will “proto-type” a useful approach on a tight deadline. You will also gain experience working with your team mates on putting together a presentation of your results and a written report, which can lead to a subsequent journal publication.

By providing a unique experience of how mathematics and statistics are applied outside academia, the IMSM workshop has helped many students in deciding what kind of career they aspire to. Sometimes this help has come in the form of direct hiring by the participating companies and labs. Not only does the IMSM workshop broaden the students’ horizon beyond classical graduate education, it also inspires students interested in academic careers by providing them with a renewed sense of excitement.

Benefits to companies: Often the student teams come up with valuable solutions to a company’s problem. Companies are encouraged to take advantage of the recruitment opportunity provided through direct contact with talented graduate students in the mathematical, statistical and computational sciences. A number of projects initially presented at the IMSM workshop have resulted in long-term collaborations of companies with students and faculty. Companies and labs tend to show continued interest in the IMSM workshop as regular and enthusiastic contributors.

Cost: Students will stay free of charge in a dormitory on NC State campus, and reasonable travel expenses will be reimbursed.

Support: The IMSM workshop is supported by SAMSI and the Center for Research in Scientific Computation in collaboration with the NCSU Department of Mathematics.

Questions: email [email protected].

IMSM Background:
History and Past Workshops
Reports, Presentations, and Computing
Related Publications