S5E7 - Computational Scientists Discuss 2024 Nobel Prizes

Science in Parallel

Wrapping up our discussion of the 2024 Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry, computer scientist Mansi Sakarvadia and computational structural biologist Josh Vermaas talk about the recent prizes and what they mean for science. You'll hear about how the prizes both break down research barriers and introduce concerns about misinformation and public trust. The research honored with the chemistry prize has already changed how researchers study questions that involve understanding proteins' structures. For more on the 2024 Nobel Prizes, check out our recent interview with Anil Ananthaswamy.

You'll meet:

Mansi Sakarvadia is a Ph.D. student in the computer science department at the University of Chicago and a current Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellow. She studies ways to interpret how machine learning models work.

Josh Vermaas is an assistant professor at Michigan State University. His research in computational structural biology focuses on understanding photosynthesis and energy transfer processes in plants as part of the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory.