Presentations

Table of Contents

2025
2023
2022
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995

2025

Blais, B. S. Oct 2025. Artificial Intelligence and Its Issues

This talk explores how training and testing assumptions in AI systems can lead to unintuitive and surprising outcomes. Suggestions for fixing some of these assumptions are given.
Blais, B.S., Gaier, E. ARVO May 2025. Synaptic plasticity models predict that binocular treatments for amblyopia can outperform monocular treatments

Amblyopia is a common cause of visual impairment that results from unequal visual inputs during development, known to manifest through synaptic alterations in the visual cortex. What is not known is the detailed mechanisms of these synaptic changes and how these mechanisms impact the dynamics of recovery. Here we use a computational model of neural plasticity to compare multiple treatment strategies.
Roselli, P. A., Blais, B.S., Grover, A. and Schneider, A. REDay April 2025. Visualizing Global Climate Change Warming Data using Legos.

Collaboration between a land preservationist, a physicist and a brick artist. In the project are eight trees - each tree has 120 Lego “leafs” where each leaf represents a single month temperature change from a historical temperature standard.
Blais, B.S. REDay April 2025. Lights, Camera, Science! The Good, The Bad, and The Ridiculous in Movie Physics

In this informal event, I will walk through what I consider to be some of the best and worst presentations of scientific principles in popular movies. From the superheroes saving people in improbable ways, action heroes surviving crashes, strange time distortions, to impossible creatures we’ll explore these science principles. Active discussion and contribution from the audience will be encouraged, so bring your best examples! Join us for a cinematic deep dive—popcorn and candy on the house!

2023

Blais, B.S. What Do Zombies, Vampires, and Three-Sided Coins Have in Common? A Research Scientist's Journey into the Weird and Wonderful.

This talk explores the variety of projects Professor Blais has had involving undergraduate research students. The projects span a wide range of topics from the zombie apocalypse, three-sided coins, and brain modeling but have common features in probability, statistics, and simulation. Also covered will be the process for picking a topic in the first place, what the steps are for doing research, and the timeline for an honors thesis.
Blais, B.S. Probability and God. Link to PDF here

In this talk, I will present a framework for rational inquiry based on probability theory. Probability theory is a branch of mathematics that deals with uncertainty and how to reason about it. I will explain the basic concepts and principles of probability, and how they can be applied to any domain of interest, including theology, the study of the nature of God and religious beliefs. I will explore some of the key theological concepts, such as belief, faith, miracles, and the existence of God, and how they can be analyzed using probability. I will also compare and contrast the scientific method with other ways of acquiring knowledge, such as revelation and intuition. My aim is to provide a clear and consistent way of thinking about these topics, and to reveal the hidden assumptions and implications of various theological arguments. Along the way, I will demonstrate some surprising and counterintuitive results that arise from probability theory, and how they can lead to errors in reasoning.

2022

Blais, B.S., Gaier, E.,Xiao, S. Modeling amblyopia treatment responses through principles of synaptic plasticity. May 2022. ARVO Conference.

The BCM principles of activity-dependent synaptic plasticity are sufficient to model the ocular dominance shifts underlying the development of and recovery from amblyopia. The importance of the dichoptic masks and contrast disparity levels on the efficacy of the binocular therapy model suggests that these parameters require precise refinement to optimize amblyopia recovery.

2018

Blais, B.S., Your Lack of Imagination Can Kill You — But You Can Be Saved by Math. Feb 2018. TEDxBryantU. Full list of videos for the event.

2017

Blais, B.S., Twitter, Zombies, and the Fate of the World. Mar 2017. Analytics without Borders Conference. Supplemental Notebook is here.

2016

Blais, B.S. and Skaza, J., Modeling the Infectiousness of Twitter Hashtags. Sep 2016. Bryant University Science Seminar.
Blais, B.S., Beginning with Bayes or Statistical Inference for Everyone. May 2016. Electronic Conference On Teaching Statistics (eCOTS) 2016.
Blais, B.S., Conservation ADHD. Mar 2016. Land and Water Conservation Summit.

2015

Hartl, T. and Blais, B.S. Unbiased Reserve Estimates Based On Triangle GLMs: Bootstrapping vs Bayesian Analysis. Actuarial Research Conference}. August 2015.
Blais, B.S., Statistical Inference for Everyone: One Scientist's Attempt to Set the Record Straight on Rational Thought. Mar 2015. The Department of Science and Technology Seminar Series at Bryant University. You can download the current textbook here.
Skaza, J. and Blais, B.S., Mathematical Modeling of Trending Topics on Twitter. Apr 14, 2015. Honors Capstone Presentation.
Blais, B.S., Science, Probability, and Models of the World. Aug 2015. Presentation to China University of Geosciences Summer Exchange Trip.

2014

Jonathan Skaza and Brian Blais. Mar 2014. The Relationship between Economic Growth and Environmental Degradation: Exploring Models and Questioning the Existence of an Environmental Kuznets Curve. 21st Annual Conference Issues in Political Economy, Undergraduate Student Research in Economics. See supporting paper at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2346173
Brian Blais, Apr 2014. Climate Modeling - A Brief Exploration. Presentation to Issues in Biological Science.
Blais, B.S., Statistical Heresies: Teaching Statistical Inference in the Bayesian Revolution. May 2014. Faculty Development Seminar at Bryant University. Download the pdf here and see the video of it here.
Blais, B.S., What is Science?. July 2014. Presentation to China University of Geosciences Summer Exchange Trip.
Witkowski, C., Leng, Q., Blais, B., Feng, L., Reid, C., Wang, H.-M., Yang, H. (2014). Decay and early diagenesis of Metasequoia leaves: Implications for three-dimensional preservation and bulk isotope signals in plant fossil lagerstaetten (2nd ed., vol. 46, pp. p. 59). 49th Annual Meeting of the Northeastern Section of the Geological Society of America (GSA).

2013

Blais, B.S. Feb 2013. From Theory to Experiment and Back Again: A Physicists Journey Through Neuroscience . University of Rhode Island Neuroscience Colloquium. (a keynote version, which includes the animations, is here
Blais, B.S. Mar 2013. Science and Analytics . Analytics Symposium, Bryant University.
Witkowski, C. and Blais, B.S. Apr 2013. Zombie Apocalypse: An Epidemic Model . Research and Engagment Day (REDay), Bryant University. Supplemental Handout here .
Blais, B.S. Apr 2013. Science and Faith: Friends or Foes . Research and Engagment Day (REDay), Bryant University.
Colin Gannon, Brian Blais, Qin Leng, Robert Patalano, and Hong Yang. April 2013. Understanding the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum: Evaluation of Deuterium Values (dD) Related to Precipitation and Temperature . Senior Capstone project for Colin Gannon.
Brian Blais, Colin Gannon, Qin Leng, Robert Patalano, Hong Yang. October 2013. Bayesian Parameter Estimation in a 1D Model of Precipitation and Evaporation: Comparison of Middle Miocene and Modern Climates Using Plant Lipid Deuterium dD Measurements Geological Society of America Conference. Some extra slides that didn't fit on the poster.

2012

Gannon, C., Blais, B.S., Leng, Q., Patalano, R., Yang, H. 2012 Understanding the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum: Evaluation of Deuterium (dD) Related to Precipitation and Temperature . GSA Annual Meeting and Exposition.
Blais, B.S. May 2012. Python and Statistical Inference . Joint presentation on Statistical Software Packages, Faculty Development Workshop, Bryant University.

2011

Climate Modeling and Function Fitting (Bryant Research Seminar, Oct 2011)
Collaboration Tools Notes (Technology Sandbox, Feb 2011)

2009

Modeling Ecosystems and Climates: A Teaching Simulator for Systems Dynamics* (Rhode Island Space Grant Consortium Annual Symposium, November 2009)

2008

A Hierarchical Spatiotemporal Model of Neocortex With Probabilistic Feedback. (Twelfth International Conference on Cognitive and Neural Systems (ICCNS), May 2008)
Cython: Optimization in Python . (Finance and Science Joint Research Meeting, April 2008)
Notes on Inhibition and BCM . (IBNS Research Meeting, April 2008)

2007

Statistics and Environmental Resources: Projects for Collaboration . (Bryant-China University of Geosciences (CUG) Joint Research Event, December 2007)
TTX and BCM . (MIT Lab Presentation, August 2007)
Numerical Computing in Python: A Guide for Matlab Users. . Bryant University Faculty Development Seminar, May 2007.
Teaching Bayesian Model Comparison with the Three-sided Coin. with Scott Kuindersma (UMass Amherst). (Bryant University Faculty Research Day, January 2007).

2006

Climatic signals registered as C isotopic values in Metasequoia leaf tissues: A statistical analysis.* with Hong Yang (Bryant University), Gary F. Perez (Bryant University), Samantha Colvin (Bryant University), and Mark Pagani (Yale). (American Geophysical Union (AGU) Conference, December 2006).
The cellular basis of receptive field plasticity in visual cortex, an integrative experimental and theoretical approach. with Shouval, H.Z (UT Houston) and Bear, M.F. (MIT) (Collaborative Research in Computational Neuroscience (CRCNS) Conference, June 2006).