Dr Frank Horowitz, applying mathematical modelling tools to many problems in mining and exploration.

Dr Franklin G Horowitz: developing applied algorithms for the mathematical geosciences

Dr Frank Horowitz, Principal Research Scientist with CSIRO Exploration & Mining, is applying mathematical modelling tools to many problems in mining and exploration.

• 8 October 2007 | Updated 14 October 2011

• Current activities
• Background 
• Academic qualifications
• Achievements 

Current activities

Dr Frank Horowitz is a Principal Research Scientist in the CSIRO Division of Exploration & Mining. He is based at the Australian Resources Research Centre (ARRC) in Perth, Western Australia.

Dr Horowitz is currently working with Dr Peter Hornby on:

• the application of optimal control theory to the modelling of flows in transport networks
• optimal control theory applications in economic systems (particularly relating to investment in distributed/renewable energy production).

Background

In early 1989, Dr Horowitz was a visiting faculty member teaching solid-earth geophysics in the School of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. 

From 1989-91, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, USA, studying the chaotic dynamics of recorded seismicity.

Dr Horowitz has been a Senior (later Principal) Research Scientist with CSIRO since 1992, first with the Division of Geomechanics in Melbourne, and later with its successor, the Division of Exploration & Mining in Perth.

At CSIRO, Dr Horowitz’s research activities have included:

• fitting fractals to geoscientific datasets
• aiding the development of a data model for geoscientific data
• developing fast algorithms for Kriging
• analysing potential fields with specialized wavelets
• working on applications of Optimal Control to various problems.

An underlying theme has been the application of mathematical modelling tools, particularly computer implementations, to inverse problems in mining and exploration.

Academic qualifications

Dr Horowitz has been awarded a:

• Bachelor of Science in Geology from UCLA, California, USA, in 1978
• Masters of Science in Geological Sciences from Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA in 1982
• Doctor of Philosophy in Geological Sciences from Cornell University, New York, USA, in 1989.

His doctoral thesis was on seismic complexity in a model fault system.

Achievements

Dr Horowitz has published papers in geophysical, geostatistical, geodetic and geological journals.

Read more about CSIRO Exploration & Mining.