15/03/2021

'Mathematics can contribute to any area', says Viana.

With the development of data science and artificial intelligence, the information age has further highlighted the value of mathematics for the industrial and business sector. But this interaction, admittedly enriching for both sides, comes from long before the development of these technologies. In the webinar “Mathematics for Companies” , held this Monday (15) by IMPA, researchers presented an overview of how this relationship has been advancing in Brazil and around the world.

The broadcast marked the institute's celebration of International Mathematics Day, celebrated on March 14, and had over 180 viewers. Participants in the webinar included IMPA's Director-General, Marcelo Viana, researcher Paulo Orenstein (IMPA), and mathematician Claudia Sagastizábal, from the Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Scientific Computing at Unicamp, and researcher at CeMEAI (Center for Mathematical Sciences Applied to Industry).

With extensive experience in applied mathematics, Claudia highlighted that although the application of the discipline's tools to industrial problems is increasingly common, in Brazil this space is usually predominantly occupied by engineers. She pointed out that the difficulty in communication between professionals in academia and the market may be one of the reasons for this.

“Working on problems in industrial mathematics forces you to be more agile, understand concepts that we are not so used to in mathematics, and have a slightly more panoramic view of the situation. Try to find a solution that is satisfactory to you,” she reported. Versatility, multidisciplinarity, and “learning to listen” are some of the valuable prerequisites for mathematicians who want to work in the field, Claudia listed.

Aligned with these demands, IMPA is committed to training more professionals with this profile, Viana emphasized. With the goal of empowering mathematicians for applied work and contributing to efficient solutions for companies, and consolidating this dialogue, IMPA is creating the Innovation Center in Mathematics Applied to Industry. “It’s a structure that will complement IMPA’s applied laboratories to establish technical partnerships with companies and train professionals. This is extremely important because Brazil is very short of people who are proficient in using mathematics in their work environment,” explained the institute’s director-general.

For Viana, the relationship between mathematics and industry is a two-way street. “The interaction irrigates and fertilizes our research, helps us diversify it, bringing new problems that have the charm of being real.” The director-general also highlighted the increased interest of IMPA students in working on market-related problems. “We have very positive experiences in this aspect, including bringing professional opportunities to students who get involved and truly contribute to these technical partnerships.”

Based on the institute's trajectory, Viana believes that IMPA's potential for collaboration in these areas is enormous. “I have an extremely ambitious view of mathematics: it can contribute to any area. IMPA has a history of collaboration in the energy, oil and gas sector, which can grow even more. With the growth of information technology, we have a whole universe of domains in which we can make an increasingly greater contribution.”

Having been a researcher at the institute for just over a year, Orenstein has already had the opportunity to participate in some of IMPA's collaborations with the productive sector, including with the public sector. Last year, the probability specialist worked on a technical study to help the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) define voting times for municipal elections that minimize the spread of Covid-19 among poll workers and voters.

“This TSE project is an example, in a certain sense 'suspicious' for a mathematician, of trying to understand how voter lines behave in an election like last year's, how we model the coronavirus, how we protect ourselves from the coronavirus. All of this is stochastic,” he recalled.

A graduate in economics, the researcher explained that his professional trajectory, like that of most applied mathematicians, is unconventional. When choosing his doctorate, Orenstein opted for statistics because of the variety of applications in the field. “Randomness is something that comes from the world, and statistics gives you the technique to try to solve these problems. […] A very cool thing about this field is that you have a huge number of challenges, both from the real world and theoretically,” he reported.

His professional experience confirms this. The researcher worked with climate forecasting at Google and with virtual and augmented reality at Facebook, in addition to projects in ecology. "Obviously I'm not an 'expert' in any of these fields. But the tools you learn are abstract and apply to so many different places that one of the advantages is that you end up with a background that allows you to go into the energy sector, medicine, transportation, or even trying to prove ergodic theorems."

With intense audience participation in the chat, the researchers answered several questions in the final part of the event, which is available in its entirety on IMPA's YouTube channel .