Dean P. Foster's home page

Amazon.com in NYC

• In mid-March Lyle and I got excited about contact tracing. As a tech person, the natural way of taking on contact tracing is via technology:
  • A protocol we created.
  • A expository discussion of contact tracing using technology.
  • A letter to push Europe to not give up on privacy.
  • And an App to implement these ideas.
  • I have used these cartons as a basis for a fun little talk.
• But, it actually is more important to do tracing by hand with tracers talking to infected people instead of by using technology:
  • A position paper on general contact tracing to get us out of lock down.
  • A letter we wrote targeted to Washington State.
  • Requirements for opening. (And some more mathmatical background on How many tests will it take to open one city. This is a work in progress by mostly Sham Kakade, John Langford and me.)
• The bottom line is that we need about 120 million fast PCR tests to open up the whole of the USA. They don't have to be very accurate. This requires focusing on those areas that are currently the least infected to get us opened as fast as possible.
• Looking at deaths over time by state, or infections, it is not obvious that things are going down under lock down. Is there any reason to believe it will decrease with Trace and Testing? I'm worried.

• I have several a page summarizing my research.
• rants and raves (which are mostly 10 years or older now)
• Mortality: Over the years, I have worked on several mortality calculators:
  • The newest one works for people over 50. It will tell you your optimal weight.
  • A phone friendly version of it was put together by Abaris.
• Eigenwords: Several of us have started creating a database of eigenwords.
• Refereeing: I'm a supporter of open access of science to everyone. Hence I will only referee for journals that are open access (OASPA)
• Photos: Some mostly old photos.
  • Seems like we post more on facebook these days.
  • My Dad shot a movie about India called The future for Ram, (youtube).
• Teaching: Old teaching materials are still on line.
• Recent talks: Covid App, Falsifiability, calibration (handout), linear (shorter).

quote