{"id":1252,"date":"2026-07-13T21:15:50","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T21:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/?p=1252"},"modified":"2026-09-03T22:07:52","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T22:07:52","slug":"modeling-chaos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/2026\/07\/modeling-chaos\/","title":{"rendered":"Modeling Chaos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

People who\u2019ve experienced atrial fibrillation, or A-fib, describe it as a fluttering, racing or pounding heartbeat that can leave them breathless. It\u2019s the most common heart arrhythmia, and according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, about one in 22 Americans suffer from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dr.
Students work with a computer simulation modeling atrial fibrillation to isolate and treat irregular beats.\u00a0<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Tarleton State University Mathematics Professor Dr. Bryant Wyatt experienced A-fib a few years ago, he was fortunate to have an ally in the field of cardiac electrophysiology. His nephew, Brandon Wyatt, works for Biosense Webster, a medical technology company focused on diagnosis and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, and he drew on his contacts to help his uncle find the right doctor for his care. Then Brandon made a request of his uncle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Wyatt runs a high-performance computing lab in the Tarleton State math building that he started fifteen years ago with a grant from NVIDIA. It has become a hub for collaborative, award-winning research in astrophysics, engineering, biology, chemistry and mathematics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the lab, we build and study simulations to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms behind complex phenomena,\u201d he explained. \u201cBrandon asked whether we could model cardiac arrhythmias, and it struck us as both a scientifically\u00a0fascinating question and a deeply personal one.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, with the help of a $464,502 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Wyatt and his students are harnessing the lab\u2019s computational power and developing a research tool to study the underlying causes of atrial arrhythmias. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Irregular heart rhythms often lead to stroke, heart failure and sometimes heart attacks. A-fib happens when electrical signals in the upper part of the heart (specifically the left atrium) become irregular and change the timing of contractions that help move blood through the heart. It can increase a person\u2019s risk of stroke by about five times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNobody really gets it, because it’s a chaotic arrhythmia, and chaos is a really hard subject,\u201d Dr. Wyatt said. It\u2019s a mathematical topic that should be solved by mathematicians using advanced computer models and simulations, he added, to gain insight on what the mechanisms of A-fib are.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using scrubbed data from real patients at Baylor College of Medicine, Cook Children\u2019s Hospital and the University of Houston, Dr. Wyatt\u2019s computer simulation models those chaotic occurrences and allows students to interact with them, using simulated ablation tools to isolate and treat the irregular beats. They can try out methods they might have read about in medical journals without endangering any real lives. Collaboration with the College of Nursing once a semester allows nursing students to try their hand at treating simulated A-fib episodes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Joe Priest, who teaches electrocardiography in the Division of Health Sciences, Department of Health and Human Physiology, said Dr. Wyatt’s mathematical model of the left atrium allows students a valuable inside view of one of the major problems in cardiac function. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHis team presentation allows my students to visually perform \u2018ablation surgery\u2019 to correct atrial fibrillation, the same procedure that destroys targeted tissue in the hospital operating room,\u201d he said. \u201cStudents become engaged at a rare level as they make critical decisions without permanent consequences … the best learning experience. His interactive model makes very complex issues understandable.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That interactivity and ability to try out different ideas for treating arrhythmias highlights the simulation model\u2019s potential to be expanded as a medical training tool. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dr.
A $464,502 NIH grant enabled Dr. Bryant Wyatt to develop a mathematical model to study the underlying causes of A-fib.\u00a0<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are only eight labs in the world that are doing heart simulations, and only three in the world that are doing interactive, so we’re one of the three,\u201d Dr. Wyatt said. Since developing the simulation, he and students have attracted attention at conferences where they have spoken about it, putting Tarleton State right up there with renowned institutions like Johns Hopkins and MIT. They also present at industry conferences such as NVIDIA\u2019s, students rubbing shoulders with industry experts and gaining valuable insights and speaking experience that will benefit them as they move forward into careers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDr. Wyatt\u2019s NIH grant is a testament to Tarleton State\u2019s commitment to fostering a culture of excellence, high-impact research, and innovation focused on improving lives,\u201d said Dr. Rupa Iyer, Tarleton State\u2019s Vice President of Research Innovation and Economic Development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mathematical Simulation Probes Mysteries of A-fib<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":595,"featured_media":1264,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"functions-assets\/full-feature-post-template.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":30,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-summer-2026-issue"],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"jpartin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/author\/jpartin\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/290\/2026\/07\/Wyatt-300x169.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Spring \/ Summer 2026 Issue<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Spring \/ Summer 2026 Issue<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 2 months ago","modified":"Updated 1 day ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on July 13, 2026","modified":"Updated on September 3, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on July 13, 2026 9:15 pm","modified":"Updated on September 3, 2026 10:07 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/595"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1252"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1262,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1252\/revisions\/1262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}