Category Archives: Uncategorized

summer 2014

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PI4-PREPARE programs

  1. Computational Mathematics Bootcamp, led by Prof. Anil Hirani, and Sean Shahkarami (TA)
    Dates: June 9-20, in 239 Altgeld Hall
    Two week intensive session on computation in a scientific environment.
    See the Bootcamp homepage.
  2. Deterministic and Stochastic Dynamics of a Social Network, led by Prof. Jared Bronski
    Dates: June 2-6 and June 23-July 25, in 159 Altgeld Hall
    Social interaction networks are an important part of the human experience, whether it is relations among subtribes of the Gahuku-Gama people of the highlands of New Guinea or between the 1.1 billion users of Facebook. We will use analysis and numerics to explore several models of deterministic and stochastic dynamics on a network, including a gradient flow model intended to explain social balance theory (“The enemy of my enemy is my friend”) and the Kuramoto model, a model governing synchronization of oscillations, from the flashing of fireflies to the synchronization of electrical generators.
  3. Modeling and Analysis of Mathematical Challenges in Biology led by Prof. Lee DeVille
    Dates: June 2-6 in 173 Altgeld Hall, and June 23-25, July 1-2 in 123 Altgeld Hall computer lab.
    More information coming soon!

 

PI4-TRAIN programs

Illinois Biomath program – students can be attached to one of the existing summer Biomathematics programs, and can also participate in the Computational Mathematics Bootcamp. Topics in Summer 2014 will include:

  1. disease dynamics and evolution of host-resistance and pathogen-virulence,
  2. the visual system of fish,
  3. ants and networks, in particular how they construct colonies.

Dates depend on host and student schedules. Students can participate also in the Computational Mathematics Bootcamp.

 

PI4-INTERN topics

Industrial internships: at Personify, John Deere, Caterpillar, and possibly more.

Scientific internships:

  1. Molecular dynamics simulations of biophysical systems (e.g., peptides, lipids) and scientific data analysis and modeling using nonlinear machine learning and/or Bayesian inference model building.
  2. Synchronization and control of small-footprint power systems.
  3. Mechanisms responsible for shaping the patterns of morphological (i.e., form and structure) evolution that characterize the history of life.
  4. This project will seek to understand the three-way relationship among complexity increases in biological systems, information flow between scales in such systems, and thermodynamics. The intern will contribute to this understanding by modeling ecological dynamics over multiple time scales, through analytical work and computer simulation.

Internship dates depend on host and student schedules.

scientific computing best practices

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Mathematicians tend to view their work as somewhat Bohemian endeavor, driven by inspiration and imagination and not by process or organization. At the same time, the research enterprise in sciences and engineering is far more often perceived as a structured team effort, thoroughly documented, perspirational rather than inspirational.

This comparison is true only to some degree – perhaps less than we use to think: our discipline depends on a rigorous (one might say, tedious) process of verification and social acceptance of a result, we work increasingly often in teams, and schedule our research efforts around our teaching or travel engagements… With all the differences, mathematical research is not as far from the general research practices as we might believe.

Still, to someone trained in mathematics, experiencing the daily practices of a scientific or engineering lab might feel a cultural shock. A well run lab operates as a machine, with lots of rules and practices woven into the daily routine.

The good news is that these rules, by and large, make a lot of sense. They eliminate (a fraction of) noise, waste and confusion, and open room for creativity and imagination. Learning and adopting them make life easier, and research better.

Below are some of the best practices relevant to PI4 where most of the internships will deal in some degree with scientific computing. They are borrowed from a PLoS article Best Practices for Scientific Computing (thanks to David L. for pointing it to me).

Summary of Best Practices

  1. Write programs for people, not computers.
    • A program should not require its readers to hold more than a handful of facts in memory at once.
    • Make names consistent, distinctive, and meaningful.
    • Make code style and formatting consistent.
  2. Let the computer do the work.
    • Make the computer repeat tasks.
    • Save recent commands in a file for re-use.
    • Use a build tool to automate workflows.
  3. Make incremental changes.
    • Work in small steps with frequent feedback and course correction.
    • Use a version control system.
    • Put everything that has been created manually in version control.
  4. Don’t repeat yourself (or others).
    • Every piece of data must have a single authoritative representation in the system.
    • Modularize code rather than copying and pasting.
    • Re-use code instead of rewriting it.
  5. Plan for mistakes.
    • Add assertions to programs to check their operation.
    • Use an off-the-shelf unit testing library.
    • Turn bugs into test cases.
    • Use a symbolic debugger.
  6. Optimize software only after it works correctly.
    • Use a profiler to identify bottlenecks.
    • Write code in the highest-level language possible.
  7. Document design and purpose, not mechanics.
    • Document interfaces and reasons, not implementations.
    • Refactor code in preference to explaining how it works.
    • Embed the documentation for a piece of software in that software.
  8. Collaborate.
    • Use pre-merge code reviews.
    • Use pair programming when bringing someone new up to speed and when tackling particularly tricky problems.
    • Use an issue tracking tool.

Computational Mathematics Bootcamp

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To help our Mathematics students to acquire – as quickly and as painlessly as possible – the basic computational skills expected in scientific and engineering research labs, PI4 has run a 2-week long Computational Mathematics Bootcamp for Graduate Students.

We hope not only to quickly raise the basic computational literacy  of PI4 members to the levels expected by their potential internship hosts, but, perhaps as important, to impart the culture of best practices of scientific and engineering computing.

The camp is open to all students confirmed with PI4, whether funded or not.

Materials for download

Computational Bootcamp 2019 (9 days on Python, R and data science)
Computational Bootcamp 2018 – Part 1 (6 days on data science)
Computational Bootcamp 2018 – Part 2 (3 days on Mathematica fundamentals)
Computational Bootcamp 2017 (10 days, focus on data science)
Computational Bootcamp 2016 (10 days, focus on scientific computing)
Computational Bootcamp 2015

Linear Algebra Workshop 2019 (3 days)