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Researching at the interface of environmental protection and mathematics
Citation:
Pollesch, N. Researching at the interface of environmental protection and mathematics. Mathematics Colloquia, Duluth, MN, April 29, 2022. https://doi.org/10.23645/epacomptox.20110772
Impact/Purpose:
During this invited talk I will give an overview of my role as a mathematician at the EPA, with the goal of helping graduate students in mathematics to connect their studies to the important work of environmental protection. For all other attendees, I hope they will also see the role that mathematics plays in environmental protection, and are inspired to learn more about the many ways to quantitative approaches are increasingly used in environmental protection. This invited talk will be given as a department of Mathematics graduate colloquium at the University of Minnesota - Duluth.
Description:
When you think of environmental protection, what comes to mind? For some it is cleaning up litter on earth day. For others it is more subtle, like the story about how the pesticide DDT bioaccumulated and led to declines in birds of prey by thinning eggshells. Regardless, the imagery of a whiteboard with scribbled equations, or a computer screen filled with lines of code is certainly not on the top of the list. However, that is starting to change. During this talk I will give an overview of various mathematical techniques (e.g. dynamical systems, network analysis, and more) that my collaborators and I have used to address challenges in environmental protection. My hope is that after attending, students of mathematics will be able to better envision how their training can be used to solve environmental challenges, and that all attendees will gain an appreciation for, and become more curious about, the role that mathematics has in helping to protect our planet and all its fascinating inhabitants.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Researching at the interface of environmental protection and mathematics
RESEARCH AT THE INTERFACE OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND MATHEMATICS.PDF (PDF, NA pp, 4479.573 KB, about PDF)