Summary
(in terms of rap lyrics)

Just my thoughts – right or wrong – just what I was feeling at the time, uhh

About me
Approximately a mathematician; I’m a mathematical scientist/mathematical engineer, interested in both the practice and the theory of using mathematics and computation to help make some sense of the world. Generally speaking, I use mathematics, simulation and inference methods to help think about biological, environmental and industrial questions.

While I tend to agree that there is nothing so practical as a good [mathematical] theory, and we don’t understand [applied] mathematics, we just get used to [applying] it, I also think that there is something to gain by trying to reflect on our practice a little more philosophically.

I’m currently doing research and teaching at the University of Auckland, NZ [all the usual disclaimers go here] in both the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Engineering Science.

Well, I’m now a lecturer in the Department of Engineering Science, University of Auckland, NZ. Teaching is taking up the bulk of my time at the moment (preparing lots of new material) but I’m also starting to work on some interesting new research problems. In particular, I’ve been looking at inverse problems/parameter estimation for models of geothermal energy production, as well as continuing to work on inverse problems/parameter estimation for biological models.

Prior to returning (see below) to NZ, I spent two years as a postdoc at the University of Oxford in the Wolfson Centre for Mathematical Biology, an interdisciplinary research group based in the Mathematical Institute. While there I was using mathematics, computation and statistical inference to help better understand/interpret/predict experiments in the intestinal epithelium (yup). This work focused on repair and regeneration mechanisms in the epithelium, failure of which can have important health implications. See the NIH page here for more.

I completed my PhD at The University of Auckland in New Zealand. I was based in the Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI), with supervision equally split across ABI and the Department of Mathematics. Again, I focused on using mathematics and computation to help better understand/interpret/predict experiments in an epithelial system. In this case I looked at saliva secretion (yup) both as a particular model for understanding epithelial transport and because of its under-studied – yet important – impacts on the quality of life of many people. See the NIH page here for more.

My rather humble contributions to science can be found on my Google Scholar here.
My ResearchGate profile here.
Some friends and I have also started doing this on the side.

I thought I promised this was ‘not a research blog’? I should clarify…
More on content
I haven’t quite decided. I comment on a few blogs around the place – mainly those covering science, philosophy, statistics and politics – and try to engage these communities a bit on Twitter. I figured I could use a space to collect a few dabblings related to this; these might or might not have any relation to my research. I’ll see how this evolves. After all, we all have our vague, shadowy ideas too meaningless to be positively false…but passionately loved…I have myself known such a man.

Post frequency
We’ll see. Likely infrequent for now.

Contact me