Actions

Matt Zimmerman: Difference between revisions

From Santa Fe Institute Events Wiki

No edit summary
No edit summary
 
(12 intermediate revisions by one other user not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
[[Image:Matt.jpg]]


I'm in the Graduate Group in Ecology at UC Davis and a member of the a member of the [http://www.xcelab.net/celab/ Cultural Evolution Laboratory].  I'm interested in understanding the emergence of human behavior and institutions using analytical and computational models of cultural evolution.


I am currently a PhD student in Ecology at UC Davis and a member of the a member of the UC Davis [http://www.xcelab.net/celab/ Cultural Evolution Laboratory].  Our research draws heavily from the methods of behavioral economics, game theory, human behavioral ecology and population genetics.
I have an engineering background, but my recent training has been in evolutionary game theory and theoretical ecology.  Lately I've been trying to apply ideas from these fields to questions in international relations.
 
I'm interested in understanding the emergence of human behavior and institutions through analytical and computational models of cultural evolution. The theoretical framework for these efforts is Dual Inheritance Theory, which models how human evolution has been shaped by the coevolutionary interaction between genetic evolution and cultural evolution.  It has a rich 30-year tradition of analytical modeling to which I hope to apply more computational tools. 
 
I am specifically interested in how transmission strategies and biases evolve in cultural systems and how humans behaviorally adapt to changing environmental conditions.  I like to spend time playing around with evolutionary game theory.
 
I swim and run to keep fit.  In moments of triathlete envy, I add cycling to the mix.  My little sister and I are planning to do the Alcatraz Challenge in August, so I'll probably be looking for a workout partner in Beijing.


mrz1 at ucdavis edu
mrz1 at ucdavis edu

Latest revision as of 07:49, 8 July 2009

I'm in the Graduate Group in Ecology at UC Davis and a member of the a member of the Cultural Evolution Laboratory. I'm interested in understanding the emergence of human behavior and institutions using analytical and computational models of cultural evolution.

I have an engineering background, but my recent training has been in evolutionary game theory and theoretical ecology. Lately I've been trying to apply ideas from these fields to questions in international relations.

mrz1 at ucdavis edu

Retrieved from "https://wiki.santafe.edu/index.php?title=Matt_Zimmerman&oldid=32724"