School of Mathematics and Statistics

The proceedings of a 2019 advanced geometry workshop held at the University of Melbourne have been published in the celebrated London Mathematical Society Lecture Note Series.

Congratulations to Stephane Dartois, Alexandr Garbali, Xi Geng, Mingming Gong and Jesper Ipsen for their successful applications.

The 8th edition of the NTDU conference series will take place  from 6 October – 8 October, 2020 ONLINE

Dr Mario Kieburg from the School of Mathematics & Statistics at the University of Melbourne presented  the topic of Random Matrix Theory on Tuesday 29th September. You can view the recording and see the answers to the additional questions below.

Join Dr Anthony Morphett to discover your study options in the School of Mathematics and Statistics.

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the 2020 Mathematics and Statistics Research Competition!

Large-scale testing is key to controlling COVID-19 and statistical modelling shows that analysing grouped samples can give a better and more efficient indication of the prevalence of disease

Mathematical Biologist Dr Jared Field is one of five Australian scientists chosen to undertake a two-week residency at ABC Radio National.

Congratulations to Dr David Ridout and Dr Michael Wheeler.

A Faculty of Science team has been awarded funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to study the movement of bacteria that live inside corals.

Professor Kate Smith-Miles, leading a team of university and industry partners, has received funding for an Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Training Centre in Optimisation Technologies, Integrated Methodologies, and Applications (OPTIMA).

Professor Kari Vilonen has been awarded a highly prestigious ARC Laureate Fellowship, to address deep and longstanding questions about mathematics.

The Mathematical Research Institute MATRIX is delighted to announce that The Australian National University has joined Monash University and The University of Melbourne in a three-way partnership.

The Statistical Society of Australia has announced the 2020 Award recipients for Honorary Membership and Service to the SSA.

"Developing interpretable machine learning models for clinical imaging and single-cell genomics"

University of Melbourne Mathematics and Statistics Professor, Aurore Delaigle, has been recognised by the Australian Academy of Science for her contributions to mathematical statistics.

The School of Mathematics and Statistics 2021 Special Emphasis Year will be on “Biological Dynamics: Mathematics of Cellular Systems to Epidemics”. We will be constructing a program to build on and promote the internationally recognised expertise within the school in the multi-disciplinary field of Biological Dynamics.

The School of Mathematics and Statistics offers Exceptional Talent Scholarships for students who have demonstrated exceptional talent by having performed outstandingly in high-level competitions. This scholarship supports students enrolled in the Bachelor of Science and intending to major in Mathematics and Statistics.

The online seminar was the first of the series and attracted 320 attendees from across the world.

Professor James McCaw and colleagues contributed to the following models which have helped guide the Federal Government's response to COVID-19.

As our world becomes increasingly connected, the only way we can manage the risk of pests coming into Australia is ensuring an effective biosecurity system.

Congratulations to the following staff and students from the School of Mathematics and Statistics who have been acknowledged for their efforts.

Research into our gut microbiome – or our ‘second brain’ – has already produced vast amounts of data, but we are only scratching the surface of our own complex ecosystems.

Results from the international competition named the University of Melbourne as the best performing Australian university (3rd overall), and students Ilia Kucherov as 9th place for the individual section and Michelle Chen and Zoe Schwerkolt as 4th place in the pairs section.

The Australian Society for Operations Research (ASOR) has awarded Professor Kate Smith-Miles its top honour, the Ren Potts Medal, announced at its annual conference in Canberra this week.

A team of statisticians provided expert analysis against Johnson & Johnson and Ethicon in the mesh implant class action.

With her living bequest, Professor Kerry Landman — a leader in the field of applied mathematics — aims to share the beauty of maths by supporting future teachers in the field.

The Victorian Government provides 12 Victoria Fellowships every year. Each fellow receives a travel grant of up to $18 000 to undertake a short-term overseas study mission to assist in developing a commercial idea; undertaking specialist training; or career development not available in Australia.

Dr Kim-Anh Lê Cao has been awarded the 2019 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research (mid-career) in recognition of her outstanding achievements in research.

The Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) scheme provides focused research support for early career researchers in both teaching and research, and research-only positions. It supports research in areas of critical national importance by enabling outstanding Australian and international early career researchers to conduct their research in Australia.

Professor Peter Forrester and PhD student Jiyuan Zhang have been featured in the Quanta story: Neutrinos Lead to Unexpected Discovery in Basic Math for their work on random matrix theory.

Professor Kate Smith-Miles leads a team that recently launched a groundbreaking web platform to test algorithms called MATILDA. In this podcast she talks about how it's designed to show when an algorithm will work - and just as importantly, when it won't.

Few things have changed the legal system over the past few decades as much as the use of forensic evidence – most notably, DNA. Professor David Balding talks about his work with DNA evidence and statistics in the legal system.

The Australian Research Council has awarded Future Fellowships to Professor Howard Bondell, Associate Professor Colette Boskovic and Dr David Garrett.

Dr Kim-Anh Lê Cao has been awarded the Georgina Sweet Award to promote and support female scientists who demonstrate excellence in the area of Quantitative Biomedical Science.

The Fellowship will be awarded to exceptional early career researchers in the mathematical sciences whose research has the potential to have a significant impact, either in fundamental research or toward practical applications.

We asked some of our prominent mathematicians to share with us who their favourite maths heroines are and why.

In recognition of the contributions of Dr Alison Harcourt AO, the School of Mathematics and Statistics is pleased to announce a new prestigious four-year Harcourt-Doig Research Fellowship.

If you're mathematically minded, come along on Open Day (18 August) to meet with us and see the many places mathematics and statistics can take you. Some of them might surprise you.

While completing his M.Sc at the University of Melbourne, Brendan Hill worked for several years with a team at Defence Science and Technology Group (DST) on optimisation and data analytics for long term Defence workforce planning.

On Friday 7 June 2019, The University of Melbourne worked alongside The Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) to empower female students in Years 9 and 10 to pursue careers in mathematics through the CHOOSEMATHS event.

Two students from the Faculty of Science have won a 2019 Chancellor’s Prize for Excellence in PhD Thesis.

Finding a mathematical proof is a long, difficult process – involving trial-and-error, grunt work and the occasional eureka moment

Two Faculty of Science academics received AOs in the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours list for distinguished service.

The newly elected Fellow of the AAS spoke about his role in identifying a cold case killer using mathematical computational genetics

Two mathematicians are among six outstanding University of Melbourne scientists who will be formally inducted as Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science in Canberra.

New experiments and mathematical modelling reveal that bacteria swimming in the oceans are supremely evolved to detect and move towards hard-to-find nutrients

The BioInspiration Seed Funding Competition is designed to have teams develop creative, nature-inspired solutions to global/ practical/ human technological and design challenges.

Dr Behrend, along with Ilse Fischer and Matjaž Konvalinka have been awarded this prestigious award from the American Mathematical Society.

Kim-Anh Lê Cao and Stephen Leslie have been awarded 2019 Moran Medals from the Australian Academy of Science for their contributions to research.

Researchers have discovered a ‘blind spot’ in atomic force microscopy – a powerful tool capable of measuring the force between two atoms, imaging the structure of individual cells and the motion of biomolecules.

It is my pleasure to announce that Professor Ruth Williams from UC San Diego has received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Melbourne. Ruth's award is richly deserved, and I hope you will join me in congratulating Ruth.   Ruth's work has been recognised by many honours such as her election to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Australian Academy of Science as a corresponding member. She is also one of a select few who have been invited to speak at the International Congress of Mathematicians. In 2016, Ruth became the first, and to date only, woman to receive the highly prestigious John von Neumann Theory Prize by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences. Since moving to the United States in 1980, Ruth has frequently returned to Australia to visit both her family and the University of Melbourne. During each visit she has made it a point to engage with the staff and students in the School and has been especially supportive of female staff. She is an important role model for women in STEM and plays an active role in the advancement of women in the mathematical sciences through organisation of networking, academic and social events. Since 2016, Ruth has been an active member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the University of Melbourne-based ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers (ACEMS). As continuing member of its Governance Board from 2015, Professor Williams has also been a very strong international advocate of the Australian Mathematical Research Institute, MATRIX. A full citation for Ruth is attached below.Jan De Gier.Citation in support of Ruth Williams’ nomination for an Honorary Doctorate

For the second year running the University of Melbourne was the highest placed Australian university at the prestigious Simon Marais Mathematics Competition for undergraduate students in the Asia-Pacific.

The Australian Mathematical Society (AustMS) has awarded Professor Peter Taylor its highest honour, the George Szekeres Medal, and Dr Nicholas Beaton, Professor Jan De Gier, and Professor Tony Guttmann were awarded the prize for best paper.

Dr Roslyn Hickson has been recognised with the Victorian Young Tall Poppy Science Award for her research using mathematical modeling to predict the spread of diseases.

It is with great pleasure that the School of Mathematics and Statistics announces the respective awards for Joyce Zhang and Jennifer Flegg. The School would like to congratulate Joyce Zhang who has been awarded the Lei Xing collaboartive grant and Jennifer Flegg for her award from the William Stone Trust.

We are excited to have Zhen Huan visiting from Sun Yat-Sen University this month. To celebrate this, we are stepping up our elliptic activities, starting with a Mini-Workshop (Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning this coming week) and followed by a lunch-time lecture series by Zhen Huan, on Wednesdays and Fridays in 213 for the next two weeks.

This scholarship supports exceptional students in mathematics and statistics enrolled in the Bachelor of Science and intending to major in Mathematics and Statistics.

It is with great pleasure and delight that I inform you of the decision of the Council of the University of Melbourne to offer the degree of Doctor of Science (honoris causa) to Alison Harcourt. Honorary degrees are the highest honour that the University can bestow on an individual. We are delighted that Alison has been extended this distinction as acknowledgment of her key contribution in the mathematical field of integer linear programming and for her outstanding commitment that has inspired several generations of students and young statisticians. I include here a copy of the citation that will be read at Alison's conferring later this year.  I am sure that you will join me in congratulating Alison on her honorary degree, Jan de GierAlison Harcourt Citation (Honorary Doctorate in Science) Alison Harcourt (nee Doig) is a true pioneer in the mathematical field of optimisation, having co­ authored the seminal paper: A. H. Land and A. G. Doig, "An Automatic Method of Solving Discrete Programming Problems", Econometrica, vol. 28, no. 3, 1960.This ground-breaking paper is well-known to researchers in optimisation since it proposed a method for solving integer programming problems which later became known as the "branch-and-bound" method. It underpins much of modern day optimisation software packages that provide efficient solutions to challenging combinatorial optimisation problems. Applications are diverse and range from logistics and transportation, to scheduling, to telecommunications, and even cancer radiotherapy treatment planning. This seminal paper has almost 3000 Google Scholar citations and has clearly had enormous impact in the academic literature as well as for practical problem solving for economic and social benefits.Most people are not aware that this ground-breaking paper was authored by two women, since their first names are never identified on the paper. Alison co-authored the paper while working in London as a research assistant together with Ailsa Land at the London School of Economics. She was offered the position based on the quality of her University of Melbourne Master's thesis on integer linear programming in the mid-1950s. Alison never enrolled in a PhD and by the mid-1960s returned to the University of Melbourne to take up a position as a Senior Lecturer in Statistics. Her talents were in high demand as a statistical collaborator, and she went on to have a strong career as a statistician, never returning to work in the field of optimisation for which she had provided such important foundations.Alison's statistical analyses have had profound impacts influencing government policy. Examples include the first attempts to estimate poverty in Australia (informing the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Poverty); and statistical analysis of bias that lead to an amendment of the Commonwealth Electoral Act in 1984 which introduced a "double randomisation" method for allocating positions of political parties on ballot papers (still used today). She was also foundation secretary of the Victorian branch of the Statistical Society of Australia (1963-1967), and has authored several books and journal articles. She formally retired in 1994 but continues to share her passion for teaching as a sessional tutor in mathematics and statistics at The University of Melbourne at the age of  eighty-eight.Given the seminal nature of her work that laid the foundations for an entire field with major societal impact, and her additional contributions in the field of applied statistics with significant societal impacts, an Honorary Doctorate from The University of Melbourne is the best way we can honour the achievements of this pioneer.

Ms Alison Harcourt, an 88 year-old statistician who works at the School of Mathematics and Statistics, was featured on the ABC 7.30 program on Monday night.

Pick a card, any card! The immortal phrase of the magician. Anthony Mays and Jennifer Palisse presented a public talk about some mathematical magic tricks.

The ever popular Maths Arcade returned to the Peter Hall building. Insert coin to continue.

Dr Kim-Anh Lê Cao has been awarded a prestigious Career Development Fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

Professor Hyam Rubinstein from the School of Mathematics and Statistics is currently seeking funding to develop and commercialise a new tool for optimising the design of open cut mines.

Alison Harcourt, a pioneer of linear programming and a University of Melbourne statistics tutor for nearly 40 years, has been profiled in The Australian.

On Thursday 26 April, The School of Mathematics and Statistics’ Student Awards was held at the Open Stage.

Dr Kim-Anh Lê Cao (Melbourne Integrative Genomics, School of Mathematics and Statistics) and Dr Matt Ritchie (WEHI) are developing software that could help to advance the world-first effort to map every cell in the human body.

Dr Binzhou Xia, from the School of Mathematics and Statistics, has been awarded the 2017 Kirkman Medal of the Institute of Combinatorics and Its Applications (ICA).

Science alumnus Jonathan Ling, now a Digital Analyst at Accenture, took to Linked In to share his advice for science undergraduates on life after university.

The ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science was officially launched on 13 December by the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Research Council, Professor Sue Thomas.

ARC Laureate Fellow and Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor Peter Taylor from the School of Mathematics and Statistics at The University of Melbourne has been awarded The Australian Society for Operations Research’s 2017 Ren Potts Medal.

MS Walkers is an informal mentoring program for female academics and PhD students within the School of Mathematics and Statistics at The University of Melbourne.

University of Melbourne mathematics students have recorded a strong showing in the international Simon Marais Mathematics Competition.

Professor Kate Smith-Miles will make history this month when she becomes the first woman, and the first Australian, to give the annual Alan Tayler lecture in its 31-year history at Oxford University.

We are currently recruiting for a range of roles at the School of Mathematics and Statistics.

A new way of presenting Y chromosome evidence in court clarifies the sometimes misleading DNA arguments used in sexual assault cases.

Mapping the massive network of tunnels that give miners underground access to mineral ores is an expensive and time-consuming process, but new optimisation software, inspired by the complexity of the microchip, could save the industry millions.

In a breakthrough in our understanding of hydrodynamics, researchers have demonstrated the seemingly impossible: a ball that sinks in water with almost zero drag.

PhD student Ada Wing Chi Yan has successfully completed the requirements of her PhD degree. Her thesis, entitled Influenza viral dynamics models to explore the roles of innate and adaptive immunity was supervised by Associate Professor James McCaw, Professor Jodie McVernon and Doctor Sophie Zaloumis. The School of Mathematics and Statistics congratulates Ada, James, Jodie and Sophie on their efforts.

For PhD students working on a project which combines advances in a theoretical area in mathematics (including probability and statistics) with their applications in other fields including, but not limited to, biology, information technology, engineering and medicine.

Professor Aurore Delaigle from the School of Mathematics and Statistics has received the distinguished George W. Snedecor Award from the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS).

RPM has acquired the University of Melbourne spin-off company MineOptima, in which Prof. Hyam Rubinstein, A/Prof. Marcus Brazil and Prof. Doreen Thomas from The School of Mathematics & Statistics were significantly involved.