Role
Dr Jason Smith is a Lecturer in Mathematics. His research lies in the areas of Combinatorics and Topology, with a particular focus on their applications to Neuroscience. His teaching currently includes Introduction to Abstract Algebra (Year 1) and Combinatorics (Year 3).
Career overview
- Research Fellow: University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK (2018-20)
- Research Associate: University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK (2015-18)
- PhD: University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK (Awarded in 2015)
- MMath: University of Bath, Bath, UK (Awarded in 2012)
Research areas
Jason's research interests are in Combinatorics and Topology, including:
- The Structure of Brain Networks: Using tools from graph theory and topological combinatorics to study the structure of the connectomes of different brains networks, such as the Blue Brain Project reconstruction, the Drosophila connectome, and the C. Elegans connectome.
- Analysis of Functional Brain Data: Using Topological Data Analysis, Machine Learning, and Combinatorics to study functional data on brain networks. The aim of this work is to take a data set of spiking neurons and determine what input the brain network has received.
- Topological Data Analysis: TDA is focused on the application of the powerful mathematical techniques of Topology to the analysis and classification of large noisy data sets. Whilst a fairly new field it has proven to be very useful. There are many interesting questions in TDA on both the theoretical side and the applications side. For example, how to do we represent data as a topological object and how can we combine TDA with other areas of data science?
- Combinatorics: Studying various different combinatorial objects including posets, permutations, graphs, Young tableaux, and the Abelian sandpile model.
Sponsors and collaborators
Current research is being conducted with the collaboration of: