Professor Paul Weiss was featured on the cover story of Japan’s Advanced Institute for Materials Research Magazine and discussed the potential in fusing mathematics and materials science.
In the article, Professor Weiss was interviewed with UCLA Professor Stan Osher, and the two discussed about the collaboration between their research groups.
Excerpt from the interview
AIMR: Have you noticed any changes in the research group as a result of outcomes you have achieved through collaboration with mathematics?
Weiss: There have been significant changes. In my laboratory, there are now students who do not want to work on a problem unless they are collaborating with mathematicians. I think this is revolutionary. We plan to disseminate our results to everyone, so once it starts to get on track, it should have an impact across many groups and fields apart from ourselves.
At the same time, we are developing different mathematical approaches in parallel, although I would not say that they compete with each other. Eventually, the approaches that work best for a particular problem are selected, but we can also see the results of the approaches that were not selected. Students are conducting research in parallel for identical problems or related problems, and this process enables us to develop multiple approaches simultaneously. We do not bet on just one horse. We bet on all the horses, and see which is the fastest after they start running.
To read the full article, please visit the AIMR Magazine.
