The technologies that dominate our lives in this digital age function by code: long strings of zeros and ones (binary code), streaming through our computers, telephones, and radios. Working in the field of mathematical logic, mathematical foundations and theoretical computer science, Dr. James Currie studies long sequences of symbols to determine what patterns may be evident. He is interested to know which kinds of patterns always appear and how often, and whether they can be avoided.

Sometimes these long sequences need to be compressed, (in computer engineering for example) and one simple method of doing that is by identifying repetitions in patterns. However not all sequences may contain many repetitions, so questions arise about how long repeated sequences must be and how many repetitions may occur. Some simple questions, such as these, have remained unanswered for decades, despite th emergence of more sophisticated solving tools.

While the bulk of his work is in formal language theory and addresses abstract questions about sequences of symbols, occasionally Dr. Currie has applied his science to some practical purpose such as the layout of highways, pricing commodities options, testing food safety and even locating helicopters bases. He is quick to point out that these are not directly related to his research, which remains pure mathematics.