From sea-level rises to improving food: using maths to solve mysteries
FOR Dr Andrew Parnell, maths and statistics are the tools to solve mysteries. He recently worked on a project that looked at layers of sand dumped in a cave in Sumatra, and from that worked out when ancient tsunamis had taken place and how powerful they were.
He is applying his maths and statistical abilities to help figure out which patients with prostate cancer will do well on particular treatments.
He has drawn together data to analyse sea-level changes with more certainty, finding that sealevel rise on the east coast of the US is the highest it has been for at least 2,000 years, and the rate of global sea-level rise is higher than previously determined.
He has even helped to develop mathematical tools to figure out the diet of a plant, animal or bacterium based on measurements of key chemicals inside it.
“These all seem like very different questions, but we can use maths and statistics to break them down and analyse the data,” says Dr Parnell, who is an Associate Professor and Lecturer in Statistics at UCD School of Mathematics and Statistics.
He originally studied mathematics and management science and did a master’s in statistics at the University of Kent before doing a PhD and moving into research.
Parnell recently co-founded a new venture, Prolego Scientific, which uses artificial intelligence to improve the accuracy of genetic tests and which just won UCD’s start-up of the year award. Practical applications of the technology include testing for meat tenderness and resistance to antibiotics in agriculture.
“I love working with big and ‘messy’ sets of data,” he says. “By applying maths and statistics to those we can figure out the answers to questions that allow us to better understand ancient history and climate change and help us to deliver better food and medicines today.”