Joseph Stover, PHD

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Research

Broadly, I am interested in probability theory, stochastic processes, and theoretical ecology. Currently I am working on various projects involving stochastic comparisons/dominations/orderings of random processes including ideas like coupling and monotonicity. I am interested in point processes especially. I also have a few projects involving matrix theory and the idea of "row sum expansions" (see my 2022 paper in Electronic Journal of Linear Algebra). Much of my past research can centered on understanding how individual variability impacts ecological population dynamics. I study a variety of different types of deterministic models including differential equations, integro-difference equations, and stochastic models such as interacting particle systems. 

A major focus of mine is multitype contact processes (a type of stochastic spatial model/interacting particle system). My dissertation involved studying stochastic orderings for such models. I am currently working on several projects involving interacting particle systems.

I have worked with students on a variety of different research projects including:
 - Species heterogeneity in Lotka-Volterra competition model
 - Disease survival in a branching process model
 - Heterogeneity in susceptibility in the SIR model
 - Heterogeneity in a delay-differential equation model
 - Modeling experimental data from chemical dilution
 - Predator-prey model with harvesting
 - Markov chain model for global surface temperature 
 - Markov chain model for earthquakes 


Areas of interest:

Stochastic processes & probability theory
Stochastic domination, ordering, and comparisons
Matrix theory, nonnegative matrices, spectral theory
Interacting particle systems (mostly the contact process and multitype variants)
Deterministic and stochastic population modeling
MCMC exact/perfect sampling, coupling
Theoretical Ecology
Dispersal (e.g. plants dispersing seeds)
Heterogeneity (individual variability of ecological traits)

Publications:

Stover, J.P. (2024). Conditional monotonicity for discrete-time Markov chains. (Submitted manuscript, under review)

Stover, J.P. (2023). Downward conditional monotonicity gives survival and extinction for contact processes in random environments. (Submitted manuscript, under review)

Stover, J.P. (2022). Bounds via spectral radius-preserving row sum expansions. Electronic Journal of Linear Algebra, Volume 38, pp. 367--376. DOI: 10.13001/ela.2022.6981

Paul De Palma, Leon Antonio Garcia-Camargo, Jeb Kilfoyle, Mark Vandam, Joseph Stover. (2021). Speech tested for Zipfian fit using rigorous statistical techniques. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America, Vol 6, No 1. DOI: 10.3765/plsa.v6i1.4975

Stover, J.P. (2020). A stochastic comparison result for the multitype contact process with unequal death rates. Statistics and Probability Letters, Volume 162, Article 108763. DOI: 10.1016/j.spl.2020.108763 preprint: arXiv:1908.06628 [Math.PR] 

Kendall, B.E., Fox, G.A. & Stover, J.P. (2018). Behavioral syndromes can reduce population density: boldness-aggression tradeoffs and demographic heterogeneity. Behavioral Ecology, 29(1):31-41. DOI:10.1093/beheco/arx068

Stover, J.P., Kendall, B.E. & Nisbet, R.M. (2014). Consequences of dispersal heterogeneity for population spread and persistence in the face of advection, Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, 76(11):2681-2710. DOI:10.1007/s11538-014-0014-z

Stover, J.P., Kendall, B.E. & Fox, G.A. (2012). Demographic heterogeneity impacts density-dependent population dynamics, Theoretical Ecology, 5:297-309. DOI:10.1007/s12080-011-0129-x

Timmins, S.M., James, A., Stover, J., & Plank, M. (2010), Is garden waste dumping really a problem?, 17th Australasian Weeds Conference Papers and Proceedings, p.455-458. URL: https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/handle/10092/102394 

Stover, J. (2010). Attractive n-type contact processes. arXiv:1006.5723 [Math.PR]



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