Where does the name 'Foundation Stochastics' come from?
Stochastics is anything that is random or involves probability. Foundation Stochastics centers around dealing with randomness. Foundation is something that provides underlying support, so I intend to help my clients build a foundation for managing randomness in it's various forms. Additionally, the word foundation in the name refers to Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy and the series of books surrounding it. A fundamental idea in this fictional future world is that of that of psychohistory. This is the idea that while individual actions cannot be predicted, the course of history can through the use of mathematics. The mathematics of psychohistory uses statistical analysis of vast amounts of data on past human history to build a model from which future human events can be predicted. I.E. big data before it became reality!
Who am I?
My 'day job' before retiring the end of 2020 was Associate Professor of Statistics at Grand Valley State University. Work on Foundation Stochastics projects prior to that was primarily a summer activity with some very limited work done during the academic year (mid-August through the end of April). At GVSU I taught Statistical Computing and both engineering and general Statistics, mostly at the graduate level, but often including our sophomore level Introductory Applied Statistics (STA 215). I was also the department computing 'goto' person providing general technical support for Mac OS X, SAS, R, JMP and other software/hardware.
Prior to coming to GVSU in 2004, I worked in industry as an engineer for 23 years. This industry work included 13 years in avionics development at Lear Siegler (later Smiths Industries and now GE Aviation Systems) and 10 years in material handling automation at Mannesman Dematic (now Dematic Material Handling & Logistics Automation), particularly autonomous guided vehicles (AGV). Since starting at GVSU in 2004, I have continued to work with the AGV people from Mannesman who are now Savant Automation, Inc. in Walker, MI.
What is the purpose of Foundation Stochastics?
Primarily, I'm in this because I enjoy new challenges and interesting problems. The reason I got into statistics in the first place is that it allows me to play in everyone else's sandbox :-). At GVSU I got to play in a few different sandboxes ranging from engineering to health sciences, but not as many as I would like, hence the outside activity. Additionally, I would like to provide opportunities for students. I've have supervised students on several different projects through the university over the past few years and would like to expand that to provide internship and/or Graduate Assistant ships for students.
What can I do for you?
As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.
- Albert Einstein, Sidelights on Relativity
This is one of my favorite quotes. It states that if you want to deal with reality, mathematics is inadequate. To deal with reality you must deal with uncertainty, i.e. you must use probability and statistics. That's what I do, I help my students understand reality and I help my clients deal with it. If you've read this far, good chance I can help you out. Go to my home page and get in touch. It doesn't cost anything except our time to explore how we might work together! Even if your project isn't a good fit, chances are I can point you toward someone that can help.