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18 February 2021 | Story ANDRE DAMONS | Photo Supplied
Prof Maxim Finkelstein, distinguished Professor at the Department of Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Science at the UFS has become the only researcher with an A1-rating in South Africa (awarded by NRF) in Probability, Statistics and Operations Research.

A professor in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS) has become the only researcher with an A1-rating in Probability, Statistics and Operations Research in South Africa after being awarded this prestigious rating by the National Research Foundation (NRF).

This is the second time Prof Maxim Finkelstein, the distinguished Professor at the Department of Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Science in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, has been awarded with an A-rating. The first was in 2015.

The goal is to produce quality research

According to Prof Finkelstein, the rating should not be a goal as such for a researcher but should produce a quality research that is recognised by peers and that, above all, brings a real satisfaction in life. Prof Finkelstein says: “The rating is just a consequence of what one, as a researcher, has achieved in the past eight years and, actually, during the whole professional life as well. South Africa is the only country in the world that is able to perform this rigorous internationally sound rating process for individual researchers. ‘Scientifically large’ countries just cannot do it, technically.”

Prof Finkelstein’s area of expertise is the modelling of random events and quantifying probabilities of their occurrences. He explains: “For instance, in industry, people are interested in probabilities that a machine or process or mission will accomplish its task without failure or accident. In order to assess the probabilities of interest, one must have an adequate mathematical/stochastic model that should be properly developed. 

“Thus, I am developing such models that can be rather advanced because they should take into account numerous factors, e.g., that the object is operating in a random environment, that its structure could change, that there can be human errors affecting the outcome, that an object interacts with other objects, etc. This is usually done in the framework of mathematical reliability theory that considers operation of technical devices.” 

The only A-rating at NAS

“I am quite excited to get the A-rating for the second time, especially because it is the only A-rating in Probability, Statistics and Operations Research in South Africa. It is also the only A-rating at our Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.

“The fact that it is an A1 and not A2, as previously, does not, in fact, mean too much to me. What matters really is that it is the A-category defined by the reviewers’ opinions that the applicant is a world leader in his discipline,” says Prof Finkelstein.

During his numerous visits as a research professor to the Max Planck Institute of Demographic Research in Germany, he jointly with the colleagues from this institute, were applying the developed stochastic approaches to modelling lifespans of organisms as well. 

One of Prof Finkelstein’s evolving interests is in the area of healthcare engineering when, for instance, monitoring the key health parameters of a patient, some optimal cost-wise decisions can be made on preventive treatments and interventions. 

“I want also to stress that, in general, international collaboration is very important for emerging and established researchers, especially in ‘remote’ South Africa, although nowadays the term ‘remote’ is obviously outdated,” says Prof Finkelstein.

He also collaborates with numerous colleagues around the globe. Apart from the visiting position in the Max Planck Institute he held for many years, Prof Finkelstein regularly visits the ITMO University in St Petersburg, Russia, and is also now establishing a Visiting Professor position at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.

News Archive

Arts Festival Rally promises to be great fun
2009-05-20

The annual Amazing Rainbow Rally, presented by the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health and UFS Marketing, will take place on Friday, 17 July 2009 during the Volksblad Arts Festival on the Main Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein.

This year all the checkpoints will be on the campus and around the Arts Festival grounds. Corporate companies in Bloemfontein and departments at the UFS may still enter teams and checkpoints.

The closing date for entering teams is 26 June 2009. A team consists of two team members who must work together to complete a route with various checkpoints. The team, who finishes first after having successfully completed all the tasks, is the winner. Last year, Dr I Babst en Dr L Solomon from the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health were the winners of the Rally.

The closing date for entering a checkpoint is 17 June 2009. Teams must complete tasks at every checkpoint before proceeding to the next checkpoint. The company sponsoring the checkpoint will also be responsible for handling the activity at the checkpoint.

The “Arts Festival” Rally promises to challenge teams physically, mentally and even artistically. Festival goers will also have the opportunity to see what teams get up to and how their favourite team is doing.

The Rally will be presented for the fifth time in 2009. The main goal of this year’s Rally is to raise funds for the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health’s “Beds of Hope Campaign”. This campaign seeks to increase the number of intensive care beds in the paediatric and neonatal wards. Currently around 250 children and babies in central South Africa cannot receive the life-saving care they need because of a lack of facilities.

For more information and entry forms, contact Ms Adéle van Aswegen at 051 401 3535 or e-mail to vanasweg.stg@ufs.ac.za . You can also visit our website at http://bedsofhope.ufs.ac.za  


Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za

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