Dr. John Whelan
Assistant Professor, School of Mathematical Sciences,
Center for Computational Relativity and Gravitation
RIT
The Science of Uncertainty
For most of the twentieth century, probability was considered to apply only to inherently random, ideally repeatable experiments. More recently, this classical "frequentist" formalism has been displaced by a more general "Bayesian" outlook that sees probabilities as a way to describe any incompleteness in our state of knowledge. I will discuss how this view of statistical inference, empowered by the ability of computers to calculate the relevant probabilities numerically, informs our interpretation of a range of information, from prenatal screening, to election forecasting, to observations of gravitational waves.
The talk: Tuesday, March 27 at 7pm
Location: Pittsford Plaza Barnes and Noble, 3349 Monroe Avenue, upstairs in the community room
For more on John's work, check out his website, http://ccrg.rit.edu/~whelan/ or a story from RIT about the recent LIGO detections: https://www.rit.edu/news/story.php?id=64318
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Upcoming Spring Cafes:
April 24: Dr. Christy Tyler (RIT): "Aquatic Ecosystem Ecology"
May 22: TBD
