C SCAPEJohn Carlos Baez<strong>Mathematics</strong> to the RescueBy Litty MathewMath solves more than equations forJohn Carlos Baez, pr<strong>of</strong>essor <strong>of</strong> mathematicsat UCR. It is the key to finding solutions fortoday’s environmental problems.“I learned that to slow global warming,we need to take actions on far vasterscales that most people are talking about,”says Baez, who is a visiting researcher atthe Centre <strong>of</strong> Quantum Technologies inSingapore until fall 2012. “We need to cutcarbon emissions by at least 7 gigatonnesper year by 2050. How do we cut it by1 gigatonne? Get everyone in the world todrive half as much or produce 80 times moresolar power than we’re doing now? That’sserious.”It’s also a complex math problem.“Using very basic math to understandhow big different problems are, and whetherproposed solutions do enough to reallymatter, is important. It’s easy to fool peopleif they don’t do the math,” notes Baez, whohas been part <strong>of</strong> the UCR faculty since 1989.As Baez grasped the breadth and depth <strong>of</strong>environmental issues, he realized the needto bring the different people interested insolving these problems together. In 2010, hestarted the Azimuth Project, an online internationalcollaboration,to createa focalpoint for scientists and engineers interestedin saving the planet.Its goal was to make accurate informationon the relevant issues easy to find and tohelp people work together on commonproblems. “I started it when I realized therewere lots <strong>of</strong> people like me with technicalbackgrounds who were eager to do somegood,” says Baez. The Azimuth Projectbuilt a wiki <strong>of</strong> reliable information and nowis working on online climate simulations<strong>of</strong>tware for educational purposes. “Wealways need more people willing to help outand we always need better ideas,” says Baez.Baez, who had spent much <strong>of</strong> hiscareer on abstract math related tophysics, has shifted his focus tomore practical mathematics,namely network theory — thestudy <strong>of</strong> complex networkedsystems like cells, organisms orecosystems.“Many <strong>of</strong> the big problemsfacing us involve complexnetworks,” explains Baez. “Forexample, a power grid is a bigelectrical network, a living cellinvolves a lot <strong>of</strong> chemical reactionnetworks and ecosystems involve‘food webs’ where different specieseat each other. At the planetarylevel, we have the watercycle, the carbon cycle, thenitrogen cycle and so on.We need to get better atliving in a world made <strong>of</strong>networks.”36 | UCR Spring 2012Illustration by Zach Trenholm
Health • Sustainability • Policy • TechnologyLIVING THEPROMISEBreakthrough ResearchExplore more sustainability impactspromise.ucr.eduInspired by nature: By studying seaurchins, corals and snails, UCR engineerslearn to synthesize new materials likelightweight armor and flexible ceramics.• Farming and Food Production• Protecting Ecosystems• Air Quality• Invasive SpeciesUCR Spring 2012 | 37
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