Debunking science myths. Not-for-profit vaccine development. Personalized medicine and growing new organs. These are just a few topics the research leaders in the Research Triangle Region have covered lately.
The Triangle Area Research Directors Council (TARDC) is one of my favorite partnership groups at the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina. Founded in the 1970’s by RTI International, TARDC brings together scientific leaders from the Research Triangle Region for a monthly speaker series over a warm lunch. Past speakers have included Nobel Prize laureates such as UNC’s Oliver Smithies, regional university Chancellors and Presidents, and scientists such as Dr. Anthony Atala with Wake Forest who have gone on to make groundbreaking discoveries.
TARDC meets on the third Tuesday of each month at the RTP Headquarters for networking, lunch, and a presentation relating to science activities in the Research Triangle Region. For our February program, TARDC hit the road and went on a field trip to the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute (SAMSI) in RTP.
SAMSI is one of eight mathematical sciences institutes supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and shares a building with the National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS), surrounded by trees, birdfeeders, and wildlife on the TUCASI campus in the Park. The Institute was established in 2002 as a partnership of Duke University, N.C. State University, the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, and NISS. SAMSI is funded by a five year grant from the NSF.
After grabbing their box lunches and sodas, TARDC members were welcomed by the SAMSI staff and enjoyed a 45 minute presentation by Dr. Richard Smith, the Director of SAMSI. Dr. Smith provided a wonderful introduction to the Institute and the diversity of research they are involved in. The Institute has the steep charge of being “a stimulator of research.” It conducts research programs that last anywhere from a summer to a year, targeting different areas of research spanning topics from climate change, complex networks, confidentiality to random media.
Smith also discussed future research projects SAMSI hopes to tackle down the road, including mathematic modeling of cancer tumor growth, data driven decisions in the healthcare industry, and mathematical statistics around sustainability research.
In addition to the research programs the institute offers, SAMSI also has an education and outreach program (E&O). Most of the E&O is geared toward graduate and undergraduate students of statistics and applied mathematics, but the program is expanding to reach teachers and high school students who may be interested in these fields. Because of these ongoing programs, SAMSI is home to a steady stream of post docs and students walking through their doors, most of whom were more than happy to help us “recycle” TARDC’s leftovers on Tuesday.
Dr. Smith wrapped up with a fascinating discussion around his own personal research on climate change. Statisticians have a strong role in the assessment of climate change, or “climategate” as naysayers refer to the findings. Specifically, Smith is interested in studying the warming of the earth and what he says is the “unequivocal” causes that are very likely of human origin. The questions a statistician is faced with in addressing a hot topic like global warming are complex. For example, to what extent can you statistically demonstrate something is due to a specific influence, and not just random events? Only time will tell, and both statisticians and those less-inclined in math will learn more as time goes on and modeling activities become more robust. As Dr. Smith said, “we must continue to assess and assemble more data”, and the rest will follow.
To learn more about getting engaged with SAMSI’s programs, events, and workshops, contact Jamie Nunnelly, Communications Director for NISS/SAMSI. You can reach her at nunnelly@niss.org, or call (919) 685-9300.
Check out one of our upcoming TARDC programs this spring!
