By: Karissa Ketter, News Writer
SFU professor Don Estep has been studying complex systems, such as weather and climate systems, using probability methods and mathematical models. For his research, he has been selected as a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair (CRC). In an email interview with The Peak, Estep explained that he focuses on “developing statistics and probability methods for determining properties of complex systems that cannot be directly observed.”
Estep added that systems such as “the impact of hurricanes on coasts, pollution flow in porous media, and radiation damage in uranium fuel rods are just a few examples” of the scope of his research. Estep looks at these systems and uses mathematical models to quantify the uncertainties of their behavior.
He explained that this work is important because “it provides the foundation for scientists and engineers to investigate and predict the behavior of complex systems in a reliable way to quantify the uncertainty in their predictions.” According to Estep, his team’s approach “can help scientists and engineers determine the kinds of experiments that should be conducted [in order to understand] the behavior of the system.”
Along with his team, Estep recently worked on a probability framework that solves the problem of uncoordinated research. He explained that when observing systems, such as hurricanes, each component is studied separately. Individually studying components like “wave height and speed, wind speed and direction, and photographs of coastal regions [mean] [t]hese experiments are conducted without coordination.” Estep said that the team’s probability framework solves this problem by combining “information from different experiments in order to maximize the information about the system.”
“I feel very fortunate to be given this opportunity to pursue my research program and train students and postdoctoral fellows at [SFU]. As a researcher, you follow research directions that interest you and that you have the ability to solve. You hope that work will [impact] a wider community and that your peers and users of the work will find it valuable. Being given an honor like a Canada Research Chair [position] gives a strong sense of fulfillment of those hopes,” said Estep.
Part of Estep’s work at SFU includes serving as Scientific Director of the Canadian Statistical Sciences Institute (CANSSI). He explained that the institute is currently working on expanding CANSSI’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion programs.
Moving forward, Estep reported that he is “increasingly focused on the formulation and solution of [inverted problems], with applications to detecting the properties and geometry of objects by scattering of electromagnetic radiation.” This involves identifying “hidden qualities of a physical system indirectly by measurements [ . . . ] that can be observed.” For instance, when trying to determine the shape of an object, one would look at “the effect of ‘bouncing’ electromagnetic radiation off [that] object.”
In addition to that work, he is also finishing a graduate-level studies textbook focused on probability theory.
Estep has written multiple textbooks in the past that he described as “explaining complex mathematics to students in a wide variety of fields.” Estep served as founding co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal for Uncertainty Quantification which is published by the American Statistical Association and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.
Don Estep was selected for the CRC program this year along with eight other SFU researchers who are working in an array of research fields. For more information on Don Estep or his research, visit CANSSI’s website.
