applied mathematics

Applied Mathematics and AI meet Law and Social Justice

May 21, 2020 By DivSciComm

For the past two years, Applied Mathematics Professor Jonathan Touboul and his team has been working in collaboration with Law Professor Samuel Dahan at Queen’s University (Canada) in modeling legal decisions and predicting court decisions on Canadian labor law. Their academic work covers the determination of a worker’s status or the calculation of a severance package (paper appearing in a forthcoming issue of the McGill Law Journal). With the COVID-19 crisis and nearly 2 million Canadian jobs lost in 2 months, Touboul, Dahan, Prof. Maxime Cohen (McGill) and their colleagues realized that their research could be applied to assist more people, and serve to help democratize legal services, particularly towards those who lack proper access to law and legal information.

Joining their efforts with a team of law and computer science students at Queen’s University, Jonathan Touboul and his team provided modeling and data science expertise to develop predictive algorithms that helped launch MyOpenCourt.org. This is a free AI powered platform that offers easy access to their research and algorithms to provide personalized predictions, explanations, list of most similar situations from the case law, and offers the option to connect the user with a network of pro-bono lawyers for a free consultation.

Learn more:

• “Championing AI for social justice”, Queens University

• “Conflict Analytics Lab launches app for workers laid off during the pandemic”, McGill University

Filed Under: labs, Mathematics, Neuroscience Tagged With: applied mathematics, jonathan touboul, Mathematical Neuroscience Team, mathematics, mathematics research

New Major in Applied Mathematics Available Fall 2018

June 15, 2018 By DivSciComm

Starting in the fall of 2018, Brandeis students will have a new option for their major: a Bachelor of Science in applied mathematics. This new major is part of a broader expansion of the mathematics department into applied areas, with a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary research and training of undergraduate and graduate students.

Course description and other information about this new major can be found in the Brandeis Provisional Bulletin.

$Thomas Fai$ This transformation of the mathematics department, and the creation of the applied mathematics major, aim at addressing long term changes at Brandeis and in the world. The last ten years at Brandeis have seen a dramatic rise in interest in applied mathematics courses, motivated by the increasing use of mathematical ideas throughout society. The world has become more quantitative with the advent of the ability of computers to collect and process enormous amounts of data. This has led to a true revolution in such diverse areas as medical and pharmaceutical industries (algorithmic analysis of the genome), weather and climate prediction (numerical approximation of intractable systems), insurance and risk management, investment, marketing strategies (statistical analysis), and beyond.

$Jonathan Touboul$ This shift toward quantitative reasoning is hardly new, but it now feels more acute than ever. There are excellent job opportunities for well-trained applied mathematicians in the private sector, as well as in academia. This has, in turn, affected education strategies at all levels. The evolution of Brandeis’ student body is in line with this current shift. The aim of the new program is to offer Brandeis students the possibility to acquire the general toolkit used by applied mathematicians to solve problems in various scientific and engineering fields, and to allow them to harness the “unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics” evoked by Eugene Wigner.

$John Wilmes$ The applied major introduces a series of new core courses entitled, Applied Mathematics, Mathematics for the Natural Sciences, Scientific Computing and Simulations, and Mathematical Modeling. These will be coupled with advanced topics courses to be developed by the new faculty joining the department. Students will supplement courses in the mathematics department with classes throughout the university with strong mathematical content. In this way, students will have a strong foundation and a thorough exposure to the way that mathematics can be used in diverse fields.

Central to this effort is the hiring of three new faculty members, Jonathan Touboul, Thomas Fai, and John Wilmes, who will expand the mathematical horizons of undergraduate and graduate students, and establish new research connections across the sciences at Brandeis. The initial focus of the new major will be on the applications of mathematics to natural sciences. In the future, additional tracks could be added to the major, with applications to computer science and operation research, and to social science and economics.

Filed Under: labs, Mathematics, teaching Tagged With: applied mathematics, mathematics

John Wilmes Joins Math Department as Assistant Professor

June 14, 2018 By DivSciComm

John Wilmes, Assistant Professor of Math John Wilmes starts as an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics in Fall 2018. Along with two other new faculty members, Jonathan Toubol and Thomas Fai, he will contribute to the new Applied Mathematics major. His research is in discrete mathematics and the theory of computing, particularly focusing on structure and symmetry in networks. John’s research is motivated by the analysis of algorithms on discrete structures and machine learning theory.

Before joining Brandeis, John spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow and research scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he received the Outstanding Postdoctoral Research award from the College of Computing. He completed his PhD as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow at the University of Chicago under the supervision of László Babai.

At Brandeis, John plans to continue studying the symmetries of discrete structures and developing rigorous analyses of machine learning algorithms. He is particularly interested in using insights from neuroscience as inspiration for new algorithms.

Filed Under: labs, Mathematics Tagged With: applied mathematics, faculty, faculty hires, mathematics, new faculty

Thomas Fai is new Assistant Professor in Department of Mathematics

June 14, 2018 By DivSciComm

Thomas Fai, Assistant Professor of Math Thomas Fai is a new assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics. His research deals with the scientific computing and mathematical modeling of complex biological fluids, including the fluids inside of blood vessels and cells. He is interested in developing highly resolved, three-dimensional simulations that can help answer fundamental questions in biomechanics and physiology.

Prior to joining Brandeis, Thomas Fai was an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard with adviser Chris Rycroft. He received his PhD in mathematics from the Courant Institute (NYU) with adviser Charles Peskin.

At Brandeis, he intends to pursue research into numerical methods to accelerate simulations of complex fluids. He is interested in continuing his work on the interaction between fluid flow, geometry, and molecular motors inside neuronal dendrites, and how this interaction breaks down in neurodegenerative disorders such as ALS and Huntington’s disease.

Simulations of growing fatty-acid vesicles in fluid

Final vesicle configurations and cross sections after a 5-fold increase in surface area using different nondimensional permeabilities π1 and growth rates π2

Filed Under: labs, Mathematics Tagged With: applied mathematics, faculty hires, mathematics, new faculty

Searches for Tenure-Track Faculty in the Sciences, 2017

September 21, 2017 By division-of-science

Brandeis has six open searches for tenure-track faculty in the Division of Science this fall, with the intent to strengthen cross-disciplinary studies across the sciences. We are looking forward to a busy season of intriguing seminars from candidates this winter.

Assistant Professor of Biochemistry. Biochemistry is looking for a creative scientist to establish an independent research program addressing fundamental questions of biological, biochemical, or biophysical mechanism, and who will maintain a strong interest in teaching Biochemistry.
Assistant Professor of Chemistry. Chemistry seeks a creative individual at the assistant professor level for a tenure-track faculty position in physical (especially theoretical/computational) chemistry, materials chemistry, or chemical biology.
Assistant Professor of Computer Science. Computer Science invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track assistant professor, beginning Fall 2018, in the broad area of Machine Learning and Data Science, including but not limited to deep learning, statistical learning, large scale and cloud-based systems for data science, biologically inspired learning systems, and applications of analytics to real-world problems.
Assistant Professor in Soft Matter or Biological Physics. Physics invites applications for the position of tenure-track Assistant Professor beginning in the fall of 2018 in the interdisciplinary areas of biophysics, soft condensed matter physics and biologically inspired material science.
Assistant Professor or Associate Professor in Psychology. Psychology invites applications for a tenure track appointment at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor, with a specialization in Aging, to start August 2018. They seek an individual with an active human research program in any aspect of aging, including cognitive, social, clinical and health psychology.
Tenure Track Assistant Professor in Applied Mathematics. Mathematics invites applications for a tenure-track position in applied mathematics at the rank of assistant professor beginning fall 2018. An ideal candidate will be expected to help to build an applied mathematics program within the department, and to interact with other science faculty at Brandeis. Candidates from all areas of applied mathematics will be considered.

Brandeis University is an equal opportunity employer, committed to building a culturally diverse intellectual community, and strongly encourages applications from women and minorities. Diversity in its student body, staff and faculty is important to Brandeis’ primary mission of providing a quality education. The search committees are therefore particularly interested in candidates who, through their creative endeavors, teaching and/or service experiences, will increase Brandeis’ reputation for academic excellence and better prepare its students for a pluralistic society.

Filed Under: Biochemistry, chemistry, Computer Science, jobs, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology, Quantitative BIology Tagged With: aging, applied mathematics, biochemistry, biological physics, biophysics, chemical biology, faculty positions, jobs, materials chemistry, physical chemistry, psychology, soft matter