Applied and Industrial Mathematics Research Group

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About the Research Group

Question
What do vehicle airbags, plants, agricultural sprays, fires, compost, sheep, warts, ships, planes, landmines, chocolate, submarine batteries, drug delivery, landfill, breast feeding, chemical reactors, optical figres, population modelling and weeds have in common?

Answer
They are all areas of research that the Applied and Industrial Mathematics Research Group have studied.

Aims of AIMRG

To apply the tools of applied mathematics and statistics to the diverse range of problems which arise when science, technology and engineering are employed to tackle practical problems.

What does AIMRG do?

The Applied and Industrial Mathematics Research Group concentrates on using Applied Mathematics to investigate a diverse range of real world problems. The emphasis is on actual real-life situations and an interaction with industry with the aim of producing real solutions that are usuable by industry.

The key steps to our research endeavours are the analysis of real world problems, the formulation of the problem in mathematical/statistical terms, the use of that formulation to provide an understanding of the nature of the problems and how they may be solved, and the communication of the outcomes to both the originators of the problems and the wider applied mathematics research community.

Group members call on the vast range of mathematical techniques and/or statistical methods together with the application of extensive modern computing methods. The range of techniques and the mathematical thinking skills that experience develops results in an extraordinarily flexible and powerful approach that can be adapted to a huge set of different practical problems as illustrated by the list of projects.

The interdisciplinary nature of the work and the constraints imposed by dealing with genuine practical problems make this a challenging and rewarding area for research. The importance and value of the work is recognised by the willingness of industry to offer financial support.

How can AIMRG be involved in so many areas?

There is a set of common mathematical techniques which can be used in the classic areas like heat transfer, diffusion, dynamics and fluid flow. And the same basic formalisms and ways of thinking can be used in other areas of science. This multi-faceted approach to applied problems allows researchers to tackle the great range of problems generated in practical situations. The analytic techniques can be applied in complex situations using a variety computer packages and the analytic approach is supported by intensive numerical computations. It is this whole methodology and spread of expertise that can be successfully adapted to such a wide range of topics.

Is this work interesting?

Practical problems tend to be complex and demanding. They force the researcher to confront difficult scenarios which cannot be tackled using the simple models and easy approximations so prevalent in textbooks. The modelling, analysis and computational problems usually require highly innovative and technically advanced solutions. The intellectual challenges posed by these problems are just as demanding as those posed in more esoteric fields of endeavour.

Clearly AIMRG needs people with a variety of skills and experiences in modelling, mathematics, statistics, computing and general problem solving. Most of all AIMRG involves people who like to be challenged and be taken into different areas of science and technology. It is the chance to interact with workers in a wide spread of activities that makes the group's work so stimulating. People who want to make a real difference to the success of practical businesses find the work rewarding and satisfying.

How to be involved

If you require any further information, are interested in collaborative research with members of the group or looking at a potential Phd or research Masters topic then please contact  the group's director.

Assoc. Prof. Harvinder Sidhu (h.sidhu@adfa.edu.au)