Australia’s Chief Scientist, Professor Ian Chubb, will open the 2012 AMSI Summer School at the University of New South Wales on Monday.

The AMSI Summer School is a 4-week program that brings together some of the top mathematics and statistics students from around Australia.

“Mathematics is an essential tool for decision makers from all corners of society”, said Dr Jonathan Kress, Director of the Summer School.

“Mathematical models are helping us understand rainfall patterns, asset price fluctuations, bush fire prediction and criminal network analysis, to name but a few”, he said.

Professor John Boland, University of South Australia, will deliver a course on Climate Statistics.

“If you install 2 kilowatt of photovoltaic cells on your roof, all you probably want to know is the expected output, but if you are a potential financier for a $300 million solar farm, probabilistic forecasting of output is a must”, he said.

“The financier needs to know the risk involved, so wants to know the probabilities of different levels of potential output, not simply the average output.”

In addition to the courses, a careers afternoon will allow students to meet potential employers from organisations including Google, CSIRO, Price Waterhouse Coopers, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Commonwealth Bank, and talk to them about career opportunities in mathematics and statistics.

"The Summer School allowed me to get my honours year off to a great start”, said David Hartley, who is now a PhD student at Monash University.

The AMSI Summer School, now in its 10th year, runs from 9 January to 3 February at the University of New South Wales.

Contacts:

Dr Jonathan Kress, Summer School Director: (02) 9385 7078

Professor Geoff Prince, AMSI Director: (03) 8344 1779

Emma Bland, Media and Communications: (03) 9035 3683