The Data Science and Analytics group at Scotiabank regularly produce an early warning dashboard in which large amounts of data is analyzed, synthesized and represented in a form that predicts trends and outcomes. This dashboard has introduced some novel forms of knowledge representation that would benefit from further study. This includes the next wave index and the hurricane model. The purpose of this Extended Problem Solving Workshop (EPSW) is to engage a number of students and postdoctoral fellows on questions that will help to better understand these and fine tune them in terms of their predictive power.

Structure of the EPSW:

The Extended Problem Solving Workshop will run with up to four groups each consisting of 4-5 graduate students and 2-3 postdocs working under the supervision of a faculty mentor on problems suggested by the Data Science and Analytics group (DSA) of Scotiabank.

The type of problems to be studied during the EPSW are as follows:

1. The hurricane model for disease trajectory uses the second derivative of the total number of cases. What are the benefits of monitoring/modelling with higher or fractional derivatives?
2. Can hurricane maps be used to construct early warning signals for coming waves?
3. How can the hurricane model be integrated into a more traditional compartment model?
4. What new predictive insights can be mined from the DSA dashboard? 

Participants in the EPSW will be recruited globally, primarily from the Fields Institute’s Principal Sponsoring and Affiliate Universities, but also from the international network of researchers associated with COVID-19 Mathematics Task Force.

As with a traditional Industrial Problem Solving Workshop (IPSW), each problem will be presented in detail on the first day of the workshop by the proposing partner and faculty mentor. Students and postdocs will have a chance to discuss different problems and form balanced groups according to their preferences and skills. The workshop will proceed with each group working remotely on a dedicated collaborative platform (e.g MS Teams), with one scheduled video call daily. In addition, representatives from each group will provide short updates to all groups at the end of each day in order to share insights, methods, and results, as all the problems have a common theme and can benefit from cross-collaboration. 

The workshop will end with a full day of presentations of the solutions for the problems, including a discussion of the main findings involving all workshop participants.

Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Fellows

Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows with relevant experience and an interest in working on problems presented were invited to apply to join the workshop. 

Graduate Student Stipend: CAD $1500 for Jul 05-30, 2021

Postdoctoral Fellow Stipend: CAD $4500 for Jul 05-30, 2021. 

Please note that these engagements are not supposed to supplant current work or stipends. This project work should be taken on in addition to your existing work. Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows who are invited to participate in the workshop with a stipend will have to invoice the Fields Institute for their stipend and will have to handle any income tax implications on their own.