Research Seminar Series: Prof. Yuan-Sen Ting

Seminar Title:

The Most Useless Science in the World

Event Details:

📅 Date: 30 April, 2026 (Thursday)

⏰ Time: 10:30am to 11:30am

📍Venue: CR-W2-04, Asia School of Business

💻 Zoom Link: https://asb-my.zoom.us/j/99819246400?pwd=7j1juYEzy8ICcCmOYFDh5LuwBawj0q.1

Meeting ID: 998 1924 6400

Passcode: 645133

Abstract

Astronomy is, in one sense, the most useless science in the world — it solves no immediate problem on earth. Yet the technologies that quietly underwrite modern life, from GPS to WiFi to the statistical machinery behind contemporary AI, almost all trace back to research that, at the moment of its funding, looked entirely useless.

In this talk, Professor Ting offers a tour through three aspects of modern astrophysics that the public tends to overlook: astronomers are rigorous statistical modelers drawing inferences from noisy and incomplete data; they use deep learning as a surrogate when classical statistical models become intractable; and they are now building agentic AI systems capable of scientific reasoning.

He will also discuss how these same tools and habits of thought are now moving into fields closer to business and policy — from studying foreign exchange markets to tracking forest change in Sarawak. Across these examples, he reflects on why deep domain expertise and rigorous statistical reasoning remain among the scarcest and most durable resources.

Speaker’s Bio

Yuan-Sen Ting is Associate Professor of Astronomy at The Ohio State University, where he leads research at the frontier of artificial intelligence and the physical sciences. His group develops large language model agents, foundation models, and statistical methods that are reshaping scientific discovery, supported by organizations including NASA, National Science Foundation, Microsoft, and OpenAI.

A native of Malaysia, he earned his PhD from Harvard University and held fellowships at the Institute for Advanced Study and Princeton University before joining Australian National University and later Ohio State.

He has authored over 240 publications, including work in Nature and Nature Astronomy, and is the author of Statistical Machine Learning for Astronomy. Beyond academia, he writes a monthly column for Sin Chew Daily, delivered a TEDx talk in Kuala Lumpur, and has produced educational content for TED-Ed viewed over four million times.

We look forward to your participation in this insightful research seminar.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher ASB Research Office