Page 9 - Eureka! Fall 2008

Code word:

accelerator

Research news I raphy involved shifting letters of the and research. “What is a mathemati- Accelerating research Faculty news
n its early and simplest form, cryptog-
cian?” he asks with a grin. “A person
The Natural Sciences and Engineering
alphabet by a fixed number of positions.
with problems.”
Research Council (NSERC) introduced
Helping him to solve them, a new
Named Caesar’s code, the shift turned
funding stream introduced by the Natu-
plain text into jumbled letters, disguis-
the Discovery Accelerator Supplements
ing messages sent from Julius Caesar to
program to provide substantial and timely
ral Sciences and Engineering Research
additional resources to accelerate progress
Council (NSERC) will allow Panario
his generals. In the digital age, cryp-
Photo by Dion Manastyrski Ministry of Forests, Southern Interior Forest Region tography has turned to simple looking to hire a post-doctoral researcher and and maximize the impact of outstanding
more students to help decode math-
equations like a = xⁿ that underlie many
research programs. Valued at $120,000
applications designed to protect every-
over three years, the supplements provide
ematical secrets in his two areas of
recipients with additional resources to
thing from government secrets to your
research. He works on the average-case
expand their research group, purchase or
analysis of algorithms to understand
online banking.
get access to specialized equipment, or for
how they behave and why one performs
While a can be calculated from x and
other initiatives that would accelerate the
n, there is no fast way of computing
better than another. He also studies
the discrete logarithm n if a and x are
known, making encryption based on computations in finite fields and their progress of their research program.
Patrick Morin, associate professor in
application in cryptography, coding
Jayne Yack’s research has identified how butter- computer science, will use his award to
Listen up! bats and birds and how caterpillars use vibrations fellows on his team conducting ongo-
fund graduate students and post-doctoral
flies use ears on their wings to detect predatory
to defend themselves. Now she’s tackling hearing
ing research on geometric algorithms
in bark beetles, above.
and data structures, with applications to
robust multivariate statistics. This research
rmed with a symbiotic blue- study of animal behaviour and neu- portunity to take our expertise and will allow scientists to apply powerful
Astained fungus carried in their roscience. She has identified sensory apply it to a new insect,” says Yack. statistical analysis techniques to the huge
mouths, mountain pine beetles bore organs in butterflies and moths, and “The chemical ecology of bark beetles datasets that are occurring more and
into tree bark, releasing fungal spores is moving into larval insects. She is well known, but the acoustics are more in fields such as medical computing,
as they go. The fungus stops the suspects beetles also have a tym- not. Insects communicate in multiple remote sensing and computer networks.
spread of toxic resin, the tree’s only panic membrane that allows them to ways, so the better we understand Paul Van Oorschot, Canada Research
defense against its attacker. Beetle detect vibrations through the air and those channels and how they work in Chair in network and software security, is
larvae will spend the winter in the through wood, although the ear hasn’t the environment, the better we can using the award to further his research into
dying tree, abandoning it when they been identified yet. learn to get along with the beetles.” web certificate interfaces, such as those
emerge as adults ready to find a new “Ants use their legs to detect solid vi- Since insects and their larvae use pop-up windows that ask users if they
tree, summon mates and begin the brations, but I think that beetles detect sound and vibration to communicate want to trust, temporarily or permanently,
cycle again. airborne sound because solid vibrations with each other, find mates, compete sites and transactions involving sensitive
These beetles play an important decay quickly in tree bark,” says Yack. for space and detect predators, a data. Used for secure communications
role in the forest: they attack old or “We have examined several regions on better understanding of bark beetle with e-commerce sites, the certificates
weakened trees, speeding the devel- the beetles that we are now exploring acoustic communication could result Daniel Panario may provide insufficient information, cause
opment of a younger forest. However, using histology and neurophysiology to in environmentally friendly pest domain name confusion, or trick users into
an outbreak of bark beetles in British identify air sacs or sensory organs.” management. Sound could be used to this equation difficult to crack. Often in theory and computer science—after all, visiting fraudulent websites. Van Oorschot
Columbia is killing swaths of lodge- Using high-precision equipment, deter insects from certain crops and problems like this, the operations—to be computers work with the simplest finite will explore and compare existing and
pole pine forests, wreaking havoc Yack is able to detect minute vibra- trees, attract adults to traps, diagnose performed more quickly—are done in a field: 0 and 1. re-imagined certificate interface design
with the province’s most commercial- tions outside the realm of human infestation in a tree without cutting finite field instead of with real numbers. The Discovery Accelerator Supple- alternatives, determining user attention to
ly harvested tree. hearing and record nervous system it down, or send vibrations through a This interplay between mathematics ment was awarded to Panario through a visual cues and design improvements for
Jayne Yack, BAHons/84, associate activity of insects in response to tree to disrupt behaviour. and computer science is where the re- program designed to provide resources increased security and usability.
professor of biology, hopes that her re- sound. She can also record sounds Of course, beetles might not be the search of Daniel Panario takes place. to a small group of outstanding re- Matthias Neufang, associate professor
search into how mountain pine beetles made in different contexts and ob- problem. Maybe the trees are. “I am interested in the theory of searchers who have a well-established in mathematics and statistics and associate
use sound and vibration can be used serve the behaviour of beetles when “If we understand what trees mathematics, of mathematical proofs, research program and show potential dean of graduate studies and research, is
to better understand how the insects the sounds are played back. With a beetles target—what they like and while also tackling the concrete prob- to become international leaders in their using the supplement to support research
choose trees and for pest control. grant from the Ontario Ministry of how they find it—we might discover lems in applications, for example in area of research. in harmonic analysis and Banach algebras,
“Plants that are stressed produce Research and Innovation, Yack is hir- that forestry practices themselves are information theory,” says Panario, as- “This funding is about the researcher, particularly on quantum group theory. The
ultrasound as the cells collapse,” says ing a post-doctoral researcher and encouraging infestations,” says Yack. sociate professor in the department of rather than the project,” says Panario. funds are supporting two PhD students
Yack. “Can beetles hear trees that are doctoral and master’s students to “We need information like this to keep mathematics and statistics. “There’s no certainty in what a research and a postdoctoral fellow, collaborative
vulnerable?” launch this new research program on things in check.” Like most professors, he suffers from program will deliver, but the supple- research, and a portion of the 2008 Ca-
Insect hearing is Yack’s specialty. bioacoustics in bark beetles. a time crunch. There’s only so much time ment shows faith in the attempt. It will nadian Symposium on Abstract Harmonic
A neuroethologist, she combines the “We have been given a great op- in the day to balance between teaching help me accomplish more.” Analysis at Carleton.
8 fall 2008 EUREKA 9