Much of mathematics involves so-called forward problems. These problems begin with a model of a physical system — say, a ball rolling down an incline plane — and researchers use parameters, such as ...

About the Author. Chris Palmer has written for more than two dozen publications, including Nature, The Scientist and Cancer Today and for the National Institutes of Health. He holds a doctorate in ...

Real-world modeling problems are rife with uncertainty and complicated interactions. To maximize profits, companies consider resource availability, environmental consequences, tax repercussions and ...

Environmental scientist Marianne Cowherd grew up in Michigan and loved snow. “My favorite thing was having school cancelled and going sledding,” she says. “But I never thought of snow as a water ...

Rahul Sahay’s quantum mechanics research started at his undergraduate school, the University of California, Berkeley. For his final project, working with DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship ...

When Harvard University Ph.D. candidate Rahul Sahay was in high school, he watched a documentary on quantum mechanics and became fascinated by the bizarre universe it suggested. He took a lot of math ...

A Montana State fellow charts a path from physics and modeling to a form of pure math called category theory. Alex Ballow works as a translator, not of human tongues but of the languages of math and ...

At UC Berkeley, a fellow applies machine learning to sharpen microscopy. Example structures generated in Construction Zone, including (left) a multigrain core-shell oxide nanoparticle with ...

A Cornell University fellowship recipient works on methods for ensuring software functions as expected. Computers are embedded in almost all aspects of daily life, including medical and defense ...

A UT Austin-based fellow blends physics and advanced computing to reveal cosmic rays’ role in stellar events. Like many aspiring astronomers, a young Margot Fitz Axen grew even more fascinated by the ...

Laura Nichols is always solving problems, whether that’s doing logic puzzles in her head or using supercomputers to study defects in semiconductor materials. She says, “Riding in the car, growing up, ...