Professor, Mathematics & Statistics

Ph.D. (the University of Groningen, the Netherlands),
Postdoc (University of Alberta, Canada),
Office: Mackenzie Chown J-Block
pramazi@brocku.ca
My research interests are in two main categories: Evolutionary game theory and Machine learning.
Networks of decision-making individuals may exhibit complicated and seemingly unpredictable behaviors, e.g., unsettlement in stock markets, spread of fake news in social media, and initiation and growth of tumors in organisms. While some networks eventually reach a state of equilibrium, others undergo perpetual chaotic fluctuations. Characterizing these possible asymptotic outcomes and finding the convergence conditions shed light on the collective behaviors. They also open the door to investigating possibilities for controlling the population dynamics, a fascinating yet open field of study. Evolutionary game theory provides a promising framework to study these problems: a network of individuals playing strategies in `games’ matched with their neighbors, earning payoffs, and correspondingly update their strategies over time. I am interested in studying the discrete nature of structured population dynamics with heterogeneous individuals and design control protocols to derive the dynamics to the desired outcomes. I am currently working on
- Characterization and stability analysis of equilibrium states and fluctuation sets
- Convergence analysis
- Efficient control
- Reinforcement learning
- Experimental studies
Although mathematical analysis provides valuable intuitions on population dynamics, they often stay behind machine-learning algorithms when it comes to prediction making. I am interested in exploiting (and if necessary, developing) basic and advanced machine-learning models to both better understand (hypothesis testing) and accurately predict different processes. For example, we have developed machine-learning algorithms that predict future 1-year mountain pine beetle infestations in the Cypress Hills Park in Canada with an AUC score of 92%. I am currently working on the following topics:
- Forecasting COVID-19 mortalities
- Forecasting the spread of diseases and infestations
- Time-series prediction making
- Probabilistic graphical models
Recent Publications
Current Teaching
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MATH 2P08 (Ordinary differential equations) Winter 2021