"The Professional Road that I have Traveled (so far)"

I was asked to write about my career trajectory for DSWeb, so I wrote this short article, which officially has the generic title of "Professional Feature — Mason A. Porter".

I really like my concluding sentence: "I want my mentees to continue to do excellent mentorship and research, be warm and kind-hearted, and not take any crap from anyone."

"Connecting the Dots: Discovering the “Shape” of Data"

Another of my expository papers just came out in final form. Here are some details.

Title: Connecting the Dots: Discovering the “Shape” of Data

Authors: Michelle Feng, Abighail Hickok, Yacoub H. Kureh, Mason A. Porter, and Chad M. Topaz

Abstract: Scientists use a mathematical subject called topology to study the shapes of objects. An important part of topology is counting the number of pieces and the number of holes in an object, and researchers use this information to group objects into different types. For example, a doughnut has the same number of holes and the same number of pieces as a teacup with one handle, but it is different from a ball. In studies that resemble activities like “connect-the-dots,” scientists use ideas from topology to study the “shape” of data. Ideas and methods from topology have been used to study the branching structures of veins in leaves, voting in elections, flight patterns in models of bird flocking, and more.

Here is my tweet, in case you want to share it on social media.

Our introduction to topological data analysis (TDA) for teenagers and preteens is finally out in final form in Frontiers for Young Minds: https://t.co/6KQF2yyJUn@michellehfeng, Abby Hickok, Yacoub Kureh, MAP, & @chadtopaz

(plus special guest appearances by several Pokémon)

— Mason Porter (@masonporter) March 18, 2021

"Disease Detectives: Using Mathematics to Forecast the Spread of Infectious Diseases"

Our article for teens and preteens about modeling the spread of infectious diseases just came out in final form. Here are some details.

Title: Disease Detectives: Using Mathematics to Forecast the Spread of Infectious Diseases

Authors: Heather Z. Brooks, Unchitta Kanjanasaratool, Yacoub H. Kureh, and Mason A. Porter

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant changes in how people are currently living their lives. To determine how to best reduce the effects of the pandemic and start reopening communities, governments have used mathematical models of the spread of infectious diseases. In this article, we introduce a popular type of mathematical model of disease spread. We discuss how the results of analyzing mathematical models can influence government policies and human behavior, such as encouraging mask wearing and physical distancing to help slow the spread of a disease.

Stay Tuned for My Mathematics Opinion Piece :)

Achievement Unlocked: I'm pretty sure that this is the first time I've felt the need to promise to an editor that I would not swear in an opinion piece that I'm going to write about mathematics.

Note: You should have seen the smile on my face when I was asked to write this. :P

— Mason Porter (@masonporter) February 17, 2020

In case you're wondering, the correct analogy (which you'll understand if you are familiar with Dragonlance) is "Tasslehoff was bored." (Nothing on Krynn is more dangerous than a bored kender.)

A sudden thought: I wonder if this counts as an Invited Tirade?

"Quantifying “Political Islands” with Persistent Homology"

Here is a new expository article (in SIAM News) by my Ph.D. student Michelle Feng and me about our work on spatial topological data analysis.

I finally get to share my new @TheSIAMNews article (by @michellehfeng and me): "Quantifying “Political Islands” with Persistent Homology"https://t.co/ocpZN43EHg

— Mason Porter (@masonporter) January 28, 2020

You may also be interested in our associated research article and our recent follow-up article.

Tales from the ArXiv: An Epic 1-Panel Figure

Chris Lustri just pointed me to Figure 1 (see below) in this paper. Although it doesn't have 81 panels, it is awesome in its own way.

The Physics of Paper Springs!

There is a new paper in Physical Review E about the physics of paper springs (i.e., springs that one constructs by folding paper). I used to do that as a kid, and I think it's really cool that there is now a scientific article about it!

The physics of a paper spring https://t.co/5yMjj4uXuM pic.twitter.com/zilPHpOGeS

— Steven Strogatz (@stevenstrogatz) July 18, 2019

"Who is the Most Important Character in Frozen? What Networks Can Tell Us about the World"

Petter Holme, Hiroki Sayama, and I decided to take on the challenge of writing a mathematics paper for Frontiers for Young Minds, a scientific journal for young readers. Only a handful of mathematics papers have been published among their many hundreds of articles. We decided to give an introduction to networks through the movie Frozen and calculation of centralities. Our paper came out today, and here are some details. You can take a look at our paper either at their website or in .pdf form.

Title: Who is the Most Important Character in Frozen? What Networks Can Tell Us about the World

Authors: Petter Holme, Mason A. Porter, and Hiroki Sayama

Abstract: How do we determine the important characters in a movie like Frozen? We can watch it, of course, but there are also other ways—using mathematics and computers—to see who is important in the social network of a story. The idea is to compute numbers called centralities, which are ways of measuring who is important in social networks. In this paper, we talk about how different types of centralities measure importance in different ways. We also discuss how people use centralities to study many kinds of networks, not just social ones. Scientists are now developing centrality measures that also consider changes over time and different types of relationships.

Digital Archæoludology: Studying Ancient Games with Machine Learning

Digital Archæoludology is a new field that concerns the computational study of ancient game using tools like machine learning. Very cool!

Here is the arXiv paper that led to the above popular piece.

Game on!

Footnote of the Day

This is truly the craziest footnote I have ever seen #twitterstorians pic.twitter.com/Sylg24CHYd

— Kara Schlichting (@KaraSchlichting) May 9, 2019

Update: I was point to this document by a friend of mine. He points out that footnotes 1–4 are very amusing, and I especially like number 3: "If large telescope arrays feel they must talk of attojoules per hectare per century, for some reason, they’re going to have to be careful how they do so; it’s probably best not to even think about atto-Henrys."

An Author Named "Tapas Bar"

The first author of this new paper is named "Tapas Bar".

Suddenly, I feel hungry.

"FU" Stands for "Fundamental Unit"

Naturally, when I see "FU", the first term that comes to mind is "fundamental unit".

Remember: "FUs are biologically well defined".

This screenshot is from this new paper.

(Tip of the cap to Alex Vespignani.)

Our Memorial Article for Norman J. Zabusky (1929–2018)

Along with David Campbell and Alan Newell, I have written a memorial article for my collaborator Norman Zabusky, who died in February. It was posted online earlier today.

A 1999 Death Knell for Examination "Blue Books"

This article from 1999 is "awesome" in historical context.

First, it's interesting to read about the origin of blue books. Here is part of it:

Michele V. Cloonan has a theory. As chairwoman of UCLA's Department of Library and Information Science, she believes they evolved from the cheaply produced, paper-covered school books, almanacs and novels known as the bibliotheque bleue, or blue library, in 18th century France.

Before the invention of chlorine bleach in 1774 revolutionized paper production, white books had to be made from white rags. Blue books came from blue rags, often from the old clothes of sailors. Blue paper was the cheap stuff, used for the covers of throwaway books.

And, earlier in the article, we have this excerpt: "Well, those exam booklets, after torturing college students with writer's cramp for almost 150 years, may finally be on the way out.

They're being replaced, of course, by the floppy disk." (LOL!)

And another beauty: "Equipped with the same level of encryption security used by the Federal Reserve Bank, the software makes cheating impossible." (LOL!)

And, of course, the blue book also ought to have a snake on it...

(Tip of the cap to @mathematicsprof.)

"Is it Possible to Take All Words Out of Mathematical Expressions?"

I just read a really cool new article in American Scientist about terminology, symbolic, and pictorial developments in mathematics.

Matrices, chaos, and birdtracks all make an appearance. The article also includes appearances by Gibbs, Silvester, Yorke, Cvitanović, and others.

Headline of the Day: "Sheep Learn to Recognise Celebrity Faces from Different Angles"

This applies to all kinds of sheep. :P

(This is one of the most brilliant headlines I have ever seen, especially with the accompanying picture.)

Sheep learn to recognise celebrity faces from different angles https://t.co/qtoDBOvIIX pic.twitter.com/C50KwsYijA

— New Scientist (@newscientist) November 8, 2017

A Classic Article: "More is Different"

Now that it's officially August 4th, today marks the 45th anniversary of Philip Anderson's famous article, More is Different, a landmark article for the study of complex systems. Here is a link to the full article, in case you don't have access to Science articles.

(Tip of the cap to Michael Stumpf.)

A 1995 Dystopian Vision of the Web

This article, presenting a dystopian vision of the Web, was written by astronomer Clifford Stoll in 1995. A recent article discusses Stoll's 1995 piece.

(Tip of the cap to Manlio De Domenico, who retweeted Valids Krebs.)

Classic Article: "Pac-Man Bites the Dust!"

Here is a classic article from 1982 called "Pac-Man Bites the Dust!". I still probably have a hard copy of it somewhere in my parents' home. Thankfully, I was able to google it successfully.

I hadn't noticed the author's infamous "name" until today. Also, Ms. Pac-Man seems to alternate during the article between being Pac-Man's girlfriend and being his wife. I didn't remember that part either.

Article Title of the Day: "Ex-bullfighter and Maths Genius Among Candidates Standing for Macron"

The title of this article is fantastic! (Note that the article preview on Facebook has a slightly different title, with "Female" before the word "ex-bullfighter".)

I had already heard that Cédric Villani is one of the candidates standing for Macron (and that itself is awesome!), but I really like the article title in this case.

Also, the second sentence in the article's description of Villani is amusing: Cédric Villani, 43, who in 2010 won the Fields medal, the equivalent of the Nobel prize in mathematics, will stand for Macron in a suburban Paris district. The mathematician is known for his dandy-ish looks, long hair and collection of floppy bow ties.

(Tip of the cap to Yves van Gennip for this specific article.)