Santa Fe Institute

Santa Fe Institute Mission and Vision

Mission

The Santa Fe Institute is a transdisciplinary research community that expands the boundaries of scientific understanding.  Its aim is to discover, comprehend, and communicate the common fundamental principles in complex physical, computational, biological, and social systems that underlie many of the most profound problems facing science and society today.

Vision

Many of society’s most pressing problems fall far from the confines of disciplinary research.  Complex problems require novel ideas that result from thinking about non-equilibrium and highly connected complex adaptive systems.  We are dedicated to developing advanced concepts and methods for these problems, and pursuing solutions at the interfaces between fields through wide-ranging collaborations, conversations, and educational programs.  SFI combines expertise in quantitative theory and model building with a community and infrastructure able to support cutting-edge, distributed and team-based science.  At the Santa Fe Institute, we are asking big questions that matter to science and society. 

Events News

SFI lecture November 6: The geniuses who invented the digital universe Oct. 1, 2013 -

In an SFI Community Lecture on Wednesday evening, November 6, in Santa Fe, historian George Dyson tells the story of how a small band of young geniuses not only built ...

Video: Is the human conscience led by the head or the heart? Sept. 23, 2013 -

In an SFI Community Lecture in Santa Fe, Steven Pinker and Rebecca Newberger Goldstein asked whether human moral progress is a gift of empathy and emotion or of reason and ...

Science symphony November 2: The Majesty of Music and Mathematics Sept. 23, 2013 -

On Saturday, November 2, the Santa Fe Institute and the Santa Fe Symphony present a unique immersion in sound and science featuring a multimedia presentation by SFI 's Cris Moore ...

Video: SFI's Stephanie Forrest on complexity and the biology of computation Sept. 19, 2013 -

In a series of three lectures September 10-12 in Santa Fe, SFI’s Stephanie Forrest revealed surprising commonalities between computers and organisms, then described research that blurs the distinction further ...

Hundreds of girls to expand their scientific horizons Oct. 5 in Santa Fe Sept. 19, 2013 -

Hundreds of 5th-8th grade girls will spend Saturday, October 5, with New Mexico women who have chosen careers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and computing.

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