The Role of Network Analysis in Industrial and Applied Mathematics

Abstract

Many problems in industry --- and in the social, natural, information, and medical sciences --- involve discrete data and benefit from approaches from subjects such as network science, information theory, optimization, probability, and statistics. The study of networks is concerned explicitly with connectivity between different entities, and it has become very prominent in industrial settings, an importance that has intensified amidst the modern data deluge. In this commentary, we discuss the role of network analysis in industrial and applied mathematics, and we give several examples of network science in industry. We focus, in particular, on discussing a physical-applied-mathematics approach to the study of networks. We also discuss several of our own collaborations with industry on projects in network analysis.

further revised and updated, including with more detail about industrial applications; article associated with talk at Royal Society Meeting on Mathematics for the Modern Economy; meeting URL: https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/2017/06/maths-modern-economy/ ; video of the talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqjSMXwIE9Q

References in corpus (8)

• Finding community structure in networks using the eigenvectors of matrices
• Statistical physics of social dynamics
• Human Mobility: Models and Applications
• Voter Models on Heterogeneous Networks
• Data Assimilation: A Mathematical Introduction
• Community Structure in Congressional Cosponsorship Networks
• Model selection and hypothesis testing for large-scale network models with overlapping groups
• Dynamics of Voter Models on Simple and Complex Networks

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Introduction to correlation networks: Interdisciplinary approaches beyond thresholding
• Complex Contagions with Timers
• Multivariate Spatiotemporal Hawkes Processes and Network Reconstruction