FSU professor and population geneticist Peter Beerli and mathematician Somayeh Mashayekhi, assistant professor at Kennesaw State University (GA), have been awarded a National Science Foundation grant that will help them study how to curb the effects of pathogens or improve the survival of endangered or commercially exploited species. Their research proposal focuses on and challenges the assumption that number of offspring in species remains constant across generations and is independent of the environment; the resulting improved population modelling will increase accuracy and decrease bias of population size estimates.
This week, Professor Sachin Shanbhag will appear as a guest with host Professor Ken Hanson from the FSU Department of Chemistry. Now in it’s seventh year, Ask a Scientist has been recently transitioned to an online platform, and to a new name and focus. The show’s new name -
Ask a Scientist Gaming – combines game play with expert science. Shanbhag and Hanson will be live streamed while playing video games and answering questions.
The College of Arts and Sciences recently announced a new degree program in Interdisciplinary Data Science. The new program is a collaborative, cross-departmental effort between Scientific Computing, Statistics, Mathematics, and Computer Science. Department of Scientific Computing Chair Gordon Erlebacher conceptualized, then spearheaded the effort to implement the major.
The data science major will feature a range of current and new courses – many in the student’s chosen focus area – that span the four collaborating departments. The new program's emphasis will be a focus on machine learning and artificial intelligence, along with the necessary support tools, including issues such as data cleaning, feature construction, statistical analysis, database management, data privacy, regression, and a multitude of machine learning artificial intelligence techniques.
Professor Emeritus Michael Navon has always had a very wide research circuit. With formal training in mathematics, physics and meteorology, Navon used much of his career to apply sophisticated data, statistical and mathematical models -- advanced 4-D variational data- assimilation methods, large-scale minimization, ensemble Kalman filter methods, as well as others -- to study oceans, climate, weather, and atmosphere. Scholars from all over the world continue to seek his mathematical expertise and research acumen, and despite having retired years ago, he continues as senior scholar and chief scientist for projects in the U.S. and Europe.
It takes two to dance the Argentine Tango, and as researchers at Florida State University are learning that’s all it takes to change a life.
University researchers are proving the tango may have benefits well beyond the dance floor. They’re finding it can help those living with balance disorders, like Parkinson’s Disease, reducing their risk of falling and improving their quality of life.
As they tap and turn, tango dancers move through a series of deliberate, rhythmic movements. Each spin is blend of symmetry and the power of healing.
“You’re in the arms of your partner, you’re supporting one another,” said Florida State’s Dr. Nathan Crock. “It’s a nice analogy for what it’s like to have someone supporting you as you take that first step.”
