Colloquium 1/8/20 3:00pm NS212C

Speaker : Dr. Evan Milliken, Arizona State University
Date: January 8, 2020 (Wednesday)
Time: 3:00 – 4:00 pm
Room: NS 212C

Title: A new approximation technique for Markov chains with applications to epidemics and biodiversity

Abstract:

Continuous time Markov chains are frequently used to model biological systems in which interactions are driven by underlying randomness. Often, interesting and important questions can be investigated by formulating first passage problems with respect to such models. We may ask what is the likelihood that one event occurs before another, or how long, on average, does it take before the first event occurs. Unfortunately, analysis of these problems is impossible in all except the simplest cases. In this talk, presently available approximation techniques are revisited. A new technique called Local Approximation in Time and Space is presented along with applications to problems in epidemiology and ecology.