Santa Fe Institute

Bio

My research program focuses on coarse-graining and collective computation in nature and their role in the evolution and development of hierarchical, multi-scale structure in biological and social systems. This research spans multiple levels of organization in the search for common algorithmic principles underlying the emergence of novel, functionally significant spatial and temporal scales, and ultimately new kinds of collectives. This includes study of groups of cells forming tissues to groups of macaques forming animal societies to groups of online gamers forming virtual societies. This work has involved development of novel computational techniques (Inductive Game Theory) for extracting strategic decision-making rules from time-series data and constructing causal networks or adaptive social circuits that map microscopic dynamics to macroscopic states. A major focus is on how components perceive regularities in their social environments and use this information to tune their behavior.

Research topics include computation in nature, endogenous coarse-graining, collective behavior and cognition, robustness and conflict management, causal network construction, social evolution, and information processing and signaling.