On July 14, Prof. Nabendu Pal - Faculty of Mathematics, University of Louisiana (USA), and his colleagues visited to exchange academic knowledge at the Climate Change Research Institute (DRAGON-Mekong). Prof. Pal discussed the basic ideas behind Copula theory and how to use environmental data to make predictions of critical elements based on some easy-to-observe Benign elements. In addition, Prof. Pal gave a presentation on predicting Arsenic concentrations in groundwater from available data based on several commonly measurable factors (such as pH, chlorine, and redox). To build a probabilistic model between Arsenic and an easy-to-measurable substance, Prof. Pal used the Farlie-Gumbel-Morgenstern Copula (FGMC) method to construct a bivariate distribution used to predict the Arsenic concentration based on the observed level of the benign element. This approach is the first in predicting Arsenic from apparently benign element(s). It can benefit all stakeholders from a public policy point of view.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Van Pham Dang Tri (Director of DRAGON-Mekong Institute) and Prof. Pal pointed out the need for statistics in scientific research, especially building databases. In addition, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Van Pham Dang Tri hopes that an international cooperation relationship will be built for specific projects in the future. At the end of the discussion, staff members of DRAGON-Mekong, Prof. Pal, and his colleagues had a memorial lunch in Can Tho.

Writer: Nguyen Luyen Phuong Doan

Poster: Tran Quoc Dung