A professor of applied mathematics at Brown, Ramanan uses randomness as a tool to make precise predictions about complex systems ranging from statistical physics to communication networks.
PROVIDENCE R.I. [Brown University] - Mathematics is a field of proofs and axioms, iron-clad truths that reveal the order underlying the world. In that context, randomness - a state of apparent patternlessness and unpredictability - would seem to exist largely as something to be stamped out or explained away.
But to Kavita Ramanan, a professor of applied mathematics at Brown and an expert in probability theory, randomness is no pariah. In fact, it's a powerful tool - one that can be used to create useful models of everything from communications networks to the spread of infectious diseases.
"I think most people are more comfortable with things that are deterministic and predictable," Ramanan said. "But the world around us is unpredictable in many ways. Probability theory and randomness can help to make sense of that."
