Statement Of Purpose: Mathematical Modelling Of Zombies

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
This is a question I often hear about mathematics: When will I ever use this? This question has probably been asked at some time to every mathematics teacher by students of various levels. While practical examples can easily be found for elementary mathematics, which is taught early in the students' careers. More advanced math principles shown during high school and college are rarely, if at all, justified by teachers, except in related domains, like physics and engineering. Being in this latter category in my university career at National Institute of Technology Rourkela, I was not asking myself that question, as calculus and algebra was an important part of my program. Moreover, I was enjoying the challenge of mathematical
Indeed, these courses were for the most parts very abstract and mostly used examples from fields traditionally associated with mathematics. Everything changed when I read a paper on “Mathematical Modelling of Zombies” about a model for an infection that transform people into zombies. Aside from the obvious novelty of the study, I was intrigued by the application of mathematics to immunology and biology, where an advanced math background is not the norm. The next fall (2015), I did a course in dynamical systems through you tube video lectures and read the book of Non-Linear Dynamics and Chaos by Steven Strogatz. Then, I discovered the versatility of applied mathematics. A given set of equations could be used to build a model which could be used in physics, but also in disciplines often overlooked by mathematicians, like biology. It was then that the seed of applied mathematics was implanted in
I am always amazed at the sheer number of unresolved problems in seemingly simple systems that deal with these mathematical tools, like with spiral waves. The ISternship program is a good match for my interest. The work done by the Institute of Science and Technology Austria, especially from Professor Nick Barton, Professor Laszlo Erdos and Professor Uli Wagner are truly appreciable. Moreover, I have found out that the ongoing projects of Professor Nick Barton are matching with my research interests. We can use the concept of Hopf Bifurcation and Limit Cycles in the ongoing current projects of Professor Nick Barton which include “Evolution of sex and recombination, evolutionary computation and Evolution of polygenic traits” to prove the conditions for the existence of stable limit cycles arising from multiple distinct Hopf bifurcations of the dynamics in the case of circulant fitness matrices. In the noncirculant case we illustrate how stable limit cycles of the dynamics are coupled to embedded directed cycles in the payoff graph. I am quite aware that a good research career can only be built on the firm foundation of a good internship. It is an uncontested fact that IST Austria leads the rest of the world in cutting-edge research by a huge