Computational Models for Scientific Exploration
This is an idea proposed in 2023 as a Cambridge Computer Science PhD topic, and is currently being worked on by Patrick Ferris. It is supervised by Anil Madhavapeddy and Srinivasan Keshav.
The modern scientific method has become highly computational, but computer science hasn't entirely caught up and is sometimes hindering research progress.
We use climate science and ecology computation needs as a case study, we are conducting a systematic study in the sources of uncertainty in these fields. We are also designing and implementing a specification language and hermetic computation environment that empowers climate scientists and ecologists to create less ambiguous, more precise and testable scientific methodologies and results, while preserving the ability to explore and introspect intermediate results.
Related Reading
- There is an extensive amount of source code up at https://github.com/quantifyearth and https://github.com/carboncredits which forms parts of our pipeline.
- See the related ideas for some smaller scale projects you can engage with.
ideasRelated News
- Planetary Computing / Jan 2022