The math of swarming robots, superconductors, and slime mold
Monday, June 26, 5:30 pm
Abstract: Systems of interacting agents arise throughout the natural world and are studied in such varied disciplines as engineering, physics, and biology. What is the optimal way for a swarm of robotic bees to pollinate a bed of crops? How can we use vortex motion in superconductors to develop new technologies for renewable energy? How does a colony of slime mold communicate using chemical signals? Prof. Katy Craig will describe the mathematics underlying systems of interacting agents and how such systems can be analyzed using an age old scientific technique: what happens if we poke it?
Bio: Katy Craig was born in Dallas, Texas, and attended college at Stanford University. After college, she briefly worked at Apple Computer, before realizing that she just wanted to do math all day. She then went to Rutgers University in New Jersey to obtain her Ph.D.. After graduating from Rutgers, she spent a year at UCLA as a National Science Foundation Mathematical Sciences postdoctoral fellow and then a year at UCSB as a UC President’s postdoctoral fellow. She loved UCSB so much that she didn’t want to leave, and she is now an assistant professor in the department of mathematics.
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- GRIT Talk
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