{"590298":{"#nid":"590298","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Get to Know the School of Mathematics Prof: Molei Tao","body":[{"value":"\u003Ch3\u003EWhat is your research about?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe world intrinsically contains multiple scales, and one theme of \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/people.math.gatech.edu\/%7Emtao8\/\u0022\u003Emy research\u003C\/a\u003E is to develop theories and algorithms that help us understand how different scales interact.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOne classic example is the following astronomical problem. It is well known that planets rotate around their host star due to mutual gravitational attraction. For instance, Earth finishes one period of rotation around the Sun in exactly one year. Pairs of planets also experience mutual gravitational attractions, but such interactions are much weaker and the immediate effects are not obvious, especially if one considers only hundreds of years in the stellar system.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENevertheless, the sun burns for billions of years, and over this much larger timescale, microscopic planet-planet interactions do accumulate. The question is, Will this accumulation lead to large changes of the planet orbits? Or more generally: How do small-scale details cascade to large scales?\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EQuantifying such cascades across scales is critical for many important questions, such as, Will Earth keep its current distance from the Sun and maintain its nearly circular orbit, both which are essential for sustaining the climate that fosters current life forms? Where was Earth when it formed billions of years ago? Can we predict the existences of planets outside the solar system, given that we can only see stars but not planets, due to planets\u0026#39; small sizes and faint luminosities? Will these so-called exoplanets be habitable?\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EApplications are not limited to the sciences. For instance, we have been using fast oscillations (e.g., laser) to control slower engineering systems. In this sense, my group addresses both scientific curiosity and engineering practicality, and that is one thing I enjoy about developing general methodologies.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EWhat has been the most exciting time so far in your research life?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen scientists, engineers, and I collaborate, we always iterate many times to carefully formulate the problems, solve the core difficulties, and interpret the results. It is also the case when I work on mathematical proofs. Serendipity seldom happens to me; what happens more often is many solid little steps. All I do is prepare myself by thinking constantly, so that whenever good things happen they will not be missed.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EHow did you find your way to mathematics research?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELike many kids, I participated in informatics and mathematics Olympiads, which I found enjoyable. Such enjoyment may not be practical, as the competitions are serious and require significant training. I never qualified for the national teams to compete internationally, but my life has been positively changed.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition, my father, even though he was working in a non-STEM discipline, had an amazing curiosity about physics, and he motivated me by asking questions \u0026ndash; such as, What are quarks made of? \u0026ndash; \u0026nbsp;when I had just learned to spell my name. Those questions sparked my life-long interest in how things work at microscopic and macroscopic levels. Therefore, it is a great pleasure to work in applied and computational math, as it provides a good blend of mathematics, informatics, and physics.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EWhat advice would you give a college freshman who wants to be a mathematician?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBehind abstractness, there is almost always intuition.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EIf you could not be a mathematician, in what line of work would you be now?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the financial industry, because of my interests in probability and differential equations; a programmer because of my experiences with algorithms; a professional gamer because of my playful nature; or house husband because of my ever-expanding to-do list of house work.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EWhat is the most exciting thing about being a part of Georgia Tech?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEveryday Im discovering new exciting things, but so far what I have enjoyed the most is that Georgia Tech is one of the best technology schools, where stellar scientists, engineers, and mathematicians are just doors away, open to engaging discussions. I have equally enjoyed working with the wonderful students, who are positive, modest, eager to learn, and contributing to a lively campus life.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EWhat are you most surprised about in your encounters with Georgia Tech students?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGiven how good a university Georgia Tech is, the students are really modest and objective. Teachers should of course always try to teach as well as they can. But sometimes students do not try hard enough to learn, and whatever they cannot learn is the teacher\u0026#39;s fault. This blaming of the teacher seldom happens here; instead, the relationship between students and teachers is generally healthy, with objective mutual feedbacks promoting quality education.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003ETell me about an unusual skill, talent, or quality you have now or in the past that is not obvious to your colleagues.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI normally don\u0026#39;t sing out of tune.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EWhat is your ideal way of relaxing?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI enjoy many common ways of relaxing, except for drinking alcoholic beverages. Because I cannot work more than 10 hours per day in a sustainable way, I do relax quite often.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EIf you won $10 Million in a lottery, what would you do it?\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOne part of my research is on rare events modeling and simulation. I, like many others, claim that small- or zero-probability events will never happen. Consequently, to characterize these nevertheless important events, it is necessary to conduct extra analysis and design biased algorithms. Winning the lottery would shatter my research premise, and therefore I would mourn for a while. Then I will secretly invest the money.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Get to know Molei Tao, a School of Math professor."}],"uid":"34469","created_gmt":"2017-04-12 15:32:18","changed_gmt":"2017-04-12 15:32:18","author":"nmcleish3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-04-19T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-04-19T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"590297":{"id":"590297","type":"image","title":"Molei Tao","body":null,"created":"1492011085","gmt_created":"2017-04-12 15:31:25","changed":"1492011085","gmt_changed":"2017-04-12 15:31:25","alt":"","file":{"fid":"224901","name":"molei.tao_nyc2014.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/molei.tao_nyc2014.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/molei.tao_nyc2014.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":39211,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/molei.tao_nyc2014.jpg?itok=zKo0svCk"}}},"media_ids":["590297"],"groups":[{"id":"1279","name":"School of Mathematics"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"173647","name":"_for_math_site_"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}