Physics grounded in inference. Data constrained by reality.
JJ Ruby
My research and professional work exist at the interface between experimental physics and theoretical physics, combined with computational statistics. I have studied a broad range of systems, ranging from laser driven high-energy-density physics experiments to the mechanics and aerodynamics of a baseball. The fundamental challenge throughout is dealing with complicated data that require an appreciation for the mechanisms of measurement and the distributions of uncertainty associated with them.
Read moreBayesian Methods in Physical Systems
The systems I investigate are characterized by measurements with non-trivial noise properties and correlations. In order to extract well-calibrated meaningful insight from these systems I make use of Bayesian inference techniques and modern statistical programming tools paired with models of the physical mechanisms that generate the data we measure.
These methods have proven applicable across a broad range of areas and have led me from HED Physics to Major League Baseball Research and Development. In both these areas I have spent a great deal of time understanding the underlying physics of whatever process I am researching and codifying it well enough to make meaningful probabilistic predictions.
Learn about my approach →Areas of Focus
“Therefore we think that in the future, workers in all the quantitative sciences will be obliged, as a matter of practical necessity, to use probability theory in the manner expounded here. This trend is already well under way in several fields, ranging from econometrics to astronomy to magnetic resonance spectroscopy; but to make progress in a new area it is necessary to develop a healthy disrespect for tradition and authority, which have retarded progress throughout the 20th century.”