The Random Sample

Here’s something weird to think about. Can fluids think? No, we’re not talking about a liquid metal shape-shifting creature like what we saw in Terminator 2. We’re asking, can fluid systems make computations?

In this episode, we chat with Professor Eva Miranda, head of the Laboratory of Geometry and Dynamical Systems at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Spain. She’s on a mission exploring one of math’s most famous open problems – the existence of solutions of the Navier-Stokes equation, which governs the flow of fluids such as water and air.

Since the 1800’s, researchers interested in how fluids flow have turned to Navier-Stokes. To investigate Navier-Stokes, Eva and her colleagues have constructed an abstract mathematical machine, a theoretical fluid computer, if you will.

In this podcast, Professor Miranda tells us how a post from Australian Mathematician Terrence Tao inspired her, how she used geometry to construct her fluid computer, and why she believes that Navier-Stokes might not always be physically valid.

Our host for this episode is Dr James Nichols.

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Sometimes interesting research starts with a question faced by industry. That question may lead to other questions – and maybe even shine light on a broader research problem not specific to that industry. Collaboration between academia and industry allows researchers to identify and explore these new and interesting problems. One way that’s being done is through Industry PhDs. In this podcast, we explore what an industry PhD is, how it’s different than a traditional PhD, and what it’s like to collaborate with industry partners as you pursue a PhD. Our host is Dr Sevvandi Kandanaarachchi, a Senior Research Scientist with CSIRO.

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This is a special edition of The Random Sample! We’re on the road at the World Statistics Congress taking place from 15-20 July in Ottawa, Canada. The Congress is put on by International Statistical Institute (ISI) and is the largest congress worldwide for statisticians and data scientists.

In this podcast, we hear from Stephen Penneck, ISI President; Kerrie Mengersen, ISI Vice President; Anil Arora, Chief Statistician for Statistics Canada; Eric Rancourt, Asst. Chief Statistician & Chief Data Officer for Statistics Canada; and John Bailer, former ISI President and host of the “Stats & Stories” podcast.

Our host for this episode is Tim Macuga, Senior Project Officer for the QUT Centre for Data Science and the Australian Data Science Network.

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Our guest is Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel, a Professor in the Department of Statistical Science at Duke University in the United States. Mine’s work is so much more than just educating students about statistics and data science. She’s a big proponent of what she calls ‘open education’, the open source sharing of how stats and data science are taught, and innovating the pedagogy. In this episode, we explore how Mine is doing this, and why this type of work is so important. Our host is Cynthia Huang, a PhD Candidate at Monash University in the Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics.

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For three decades, University of Queensland Professor Hugh Possingham has combined his two passions – mathematics and nature – into a career dedicated to making an impact with conservation efforts around the world. Hugh recently completed a two-year term as Queensland’s Chief Scientist. He served as Chief Scientist of the Nature Conservancy, is the former director of four national research centres, and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. His conservation efforts include his lab’s development of Marxan which was used to underpin the rezoning of the Great Barrier Reef. Marxan is now the most widely used conservation planning software in the world. In this episode, we explore the importance of mathematics in the field of conservation and the challenges of communicating the maths and science to decision-makers. Our host is Rose Crocker, an applied mathematician with the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

BONUS MATERIAL, including a clip where Prof Possingham talks about mentoring: https://www.therandomsample.com.au/podcast/hugh-possingham/

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Ever watch a TV courtroom drama where they question an expert witness? Chances are, you’ve never seen an actor portray an expert witness who is a statistician. But statisticians can have a big impact inside real courtrooms. Our guest is Professor Ian Gordon, Director of the Statistical Consulting Centre at The University of Melbourne. Among the consulting work he does includes being an expert witness in legal cases. In this episode, we explore how statisticians get involved in legal cases, what that legal work looks like, and we look at some of the big cases Ian has worked on. Our host is Cynthia Huang, a PhD Candidate at Monash University in the Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics.

Links & bonus material: https://www.therandomsample.com.au/podcast/statisticians-in-legal-cases/

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100 years after Albert Einstein predicted their existence, scientists in 2015 detected gravitational waves for the first time ever. The historic discovery was the culmination of decades of research and hard work. In this episode, we explore the importance of gravitational waves and the theoretical and technological efforts that allowed researchers to finally detect them.

Our guest is Distinguished Professor Susan Scott, from The Australian National University, and a senior member of the gravitational wave detection team. Our host is Dr James Nichols, a mathematician and Lecturer at ANU.

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We explore the field of discrete optimisation and how industries and companies use it to make decisions for complex problems. Our guest is Monash University Professor Peter Stuckey, a pioneer in constraint programming (CP) which is a powerful approach to solving discrete optimisation problems. Professor Stuckey explains why he believes optimisation is the intelligence behind AI. Our host is Dr Sevvandi Kandanaarachchi.

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It’s one of the most pressing, if not the most pressing, question facing scientists: what impact is climate change having on our planet’s future? In this episode, we chat with world-renowned climate researcher Professor Lisa Alexander from UNSW who is helping answer that question with her research to understand and build better climate models. Our host is Rose Crocker.

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Since its release in late 2022, Open AI’s Chat G-P-T has most everyone talking about it, and even trying it. Schools, universities, and businesses are scrambling to figure out how it can be used, or whether to even ban its use. But here at The Random Sample, we’ll leave that debate to others, at least for now. Instead, we’d rather take a look under the hood of ChatGPT and see what it really is and how it works, or in some cases, doesn’t work! Our guest is Assoc. Professor Simon Angus from Monash University and our host is Cynthia Huang.

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