Public lecture to highlight role of mathematics in some of the world’s greatest discoveries

Miri – 18 August 2015 – For those with a penchant for mathematics or are fascinated by how mathematical minds have helped advance science through the millennia, Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak) is hosting a public lecture entitled ‘Control Theory Ventures into the Exquisite Deep Waters, the Sophisticated Brain and the Dazzling Universe’ that will highlight the role of mathematics in some of the world’s greatest discoveries.

Organised by the Department of Electrical Engineering of the university’s Faculty of Engineering and Science, the lecture will be delivered by Professor Monique Chyba of the University of Hawaii on 20 August 2015, from 3.14 pm to 4.15 pm in The Auditorium at the Curtin Sarawak campus.

Staff and students of Curtin Sarawak, as well as local secondary school students and members of the public, are invited to attend. Participation is free of charge.

Professor Chyba, the world’s foremost scholar on optimal trajectories for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, will talk about how mathematics is the appropriate language and framework to formulate scientific questions and analyse them.

According to her, we live in an era of exciting scientific advances such as discovering new planets and black holes far away in the universe or gaining a better understanding of our own biological system. Unsurprisingly, mathematics plays a dominant role in almost all of them.

Prior to joining the University of Hawaii in 2002, Professor Chyba was a visiting assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz; and held various research positions at Princeton University; the French Institute for Research in Computers and Automation, Sophia Antipolis; Harvard University; University of Paris VI; and University of Geneva.

She has won numerous research grants and awards, including the Chiba University Science and Lectureship Award for her contributions to applied mathematics and the University of Hawaii – Manoa Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Teaching.

In addition, she has individually and jointly published a number of scholarly books, encyclopaedias and referred journal articles, and is a guest editor, associate editor and reviewer for a number of academic and research journals.

For more details of the public lecture or to register, contact Professor Goh Bean San at 085-443 209 or email bsgoh@curtin.edu.my.

Professor Monique Chyba to give public lecture at Curtin Sarawak.