The Department of Mathematical Sciences will collaborate with the Center for Computational and Integrative Biology for a joint seminar featuring Dr. Charles Epstein, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Epstein will discuss “The Ins and Outs of the Diffusion Approximation.”
In this talk, Dr. Epstein will discuss diffusion approximation in the context of Population Genetics. Population Genetics is the study of how the distribution of different types of individuals evolves in a reproducing population. The standard models incorporate effects of random mating, mutation, selection, and migration. In their simplest form these models are discrete Markov chains that model a finite population. These discrete models are very difficult to analyze and compute with, and so methods were developed to replace the discrete models with continuum models allowing for the usage of calculus. We describe both the discrete and continuous models and how they are related, as well as recent work on the analysis and numerics of the continuous models.
The event begins on Tuesday, October 17th, at 12:45 p.m. in the Science Building Lecture Hall. All are welcome to this free event.