Event Videos:
Speakers
Wendell Challenger – LGL
Dr. Wendell Challenger is a Senior Analyst/Biologist at LGL limited environmental research associates, whose work focuses on applying statistical approaches to ecological research questions. LGL is one of North America’s leading ecological research companies with a reputation for conducting benchmark environmental studies and offering expert advice. His work at LGL has spanned a wide array of ecology problems including, abundance estimation and population projections, salmon life-cycle analyses, bioenergetics, ecosystem capacity assessments, radio telemetry, and wildlife monitoring using camera trapping. Recently, he has been involved in a number of large-scale ecological modelling projects, including predicting landscape level changes in food abundances as a response to proposed developments, developing a spatial age-structured mark-recapture model in order to assess the population viability of the Fraser River sturgeon, and modelling impacts of hydrological water management strategies on bull trout bioenergetics. Other works include the development of web applications allowing resource managers to critically assess the impact of differing strategies on population outcomes.
The case for ecological statistics in resource management.
Dr. Wendell Challenger is a Senior Analyst/Biologist at LGL limited environmental research associates, whose work focuses on applying statistical approaches to ecological research questions. LGL is one of North America’s leading ecological research companies with a reputation for conducting benchmark environmental studies and offering expert advice. His work at LGL has spanned a wide array of ecology problems including, abundance estimation and population projections, salmon life-cycle analyses, bioenergetics, ecosystem capacity assessments, radio telemetry, and wildlife monitoring using camera trapping. Recently, he has been involved in a number of large-scale ecological modelling projects, including predicting landscape level changes in food abundances as a response to proposed developments, developing a spatial age-structured mark-recapture model in order to assess the population viability of the Fraser River sturgeon, and modelling impacts of hydrological water management strategies on bull trout bioenergetics. Other works include the development of web applications allowing resource managers to critically assess the impact of differing strategies on population outcomes.
Leonard Olien – University of Calgary
Leonard Olien is very busy as a PhD student in Mathematical Finance at the University of Calgary and as the Director of Energy Storage for the Canadian Renewable Energy Association. Since completing his MSc. in Mathematics at McGill University, Leonard has worked in genetics, airlines, securities, energy trading and renewable energy industries, providing analysis and insights in academic and industrial settings. Leonard’s doctoral research is focussed on modelling the impact of renewable energy development on electricity prices using structural and reduced form models. Ultimately, the goal of the research is to identify and evaluate the need for novel electricity market structures to enable decarbonization of the electricity sector.
Math in Today’s Energy Industry
The diversity of mathematics used in the energy industry is truly staggering. In this talk, I will give a tour of some of the mathematical tools used to address problems in the energy industry today. Areas that need mathematicians include commodity trading, energy deal structuring, wind resource assessment, electricity dispatch modelling, asset valuation, among others. I hope that you will leave with an appreciation of the breadth of problems in industry that need effective mathematical treatment and how you, as a mathematician, can contribute.
Amanda Caskenette – Fisheries & Oceans Canada
Dr. Caskenette has followed an unconventional path since finishing her undergraduate degree in Environmetrics; a major that combined mathematical modelling, statistics, computer programming, and environmental science. After a few years feeling lost in her career path, she responded to an advertisement for a post-doctoral position with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and asked “to help”. In taking this leap, Amanda found herself in a biologist position and then working on an MSc modelling seal-cod interactions, which she followed with a PhD at the University of Guelph modelling freshwater food webs and a post-doc position at the University of Connecticut (modelling marine life again!). Since re-joining Fisheries and Oceans Canada in February 2016, Amanda has been able to put her skills to work in a diverse array of projects, focusing mainly on freshwater invasive species and species at risk (do you see a trend here?).
Why would a mathematician want to work in the natural resources?
In this talk I will speak from experience about the great opportunities for researchers with a background in mathematics, statistics, and computer programming in the field of natural resources, with a focus on aquatic ecology. If you are like me, someone that appreciates the surety of mathematics and the complexity of nature, a career in aquatic ecology is a great fit. What could be more challenging than modelling an ecosystem that is still foreign to us in the 21st century? A quote attributed to the renowned scientist Robert May says it perfectly: “Ecology is not rocket science – it’s much harder than that.” I will go over benefits of working in the field, some of the tools that we use, where I see the field going in terms of mathematics, statistics, and computer programming, and what you might want to start doing now to better your chances of getting a job in natural resources.
Stéphane Dellacherie – Hydro-Québec
Stéphane Dellacherie received his PhD in mathematics from Université de Paris in 1998. His doctoral research focused on modeling and numerical simulation of hot plasma with nuclear fusion reactions using Boltzmann’s and Fokker-Planck’s kinetic theories.
Stéphane was hired by the CEA Paris-Saclay to continue to work on Bolzmann type models by focusing on the atomic vapor laser isotope separation and the dust-particle interaction in a tokamak. In parallel, he worked on low Mach number flows for nuclear safety studies from a modeling and numerical analysis point of view and more recently on the coupling between water and neutron from the theoretical point of view.
Stéphane was hired by Hydro-Québec at the end of 2016 to work in an operational team on load forecasting on the Québec power grid. In the context of the energy transition, Stéphane works with his team, with researchers from the Hydro-Québec research laboratory (IREQ) and with university students from Canada and France on the introduction of AI with modern data science tools.
Load forecasting on the Québec power grid: From applied math to AI
(en français)
In this talk, I will briefly describe some of the mathematical tools used in the field of nuclear energy as well as the underlying physical contexts. Although these tools and contexts rely mainly on PDEs, numerical analysis and standard equations of physics rather than on data science, I will show how it is possible to use mathematician and physics modeler’s reflexes to develop rigorous, simple and operational tools dealing with data series that are a priori not related to the approximation of PDEs solutions. This will lead me to talk about load forecasting in Quebec and analogies with statistical physics, about meteorology, big data and the explosion of the dimension in the context of energy transition including active role of the consumer, behind the meter production, storage and smart grids. The importance of focusing on AI and associated computing tools will then be underlined. I will conclude by building several bridges with the beginning of my presentation, prompting me to ask myself this question: are mathematics, the fundamental equations of physics and AI gradually coming together, supported by big data and high performance computing ?
Schedule
Career & Innovation Hub 