Diversity Short Course Speakers

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Complexity of Diversity Short Course

March 22 – 23, 2018
Salesforce West
50 Fremont Street, San Francisco, CA, 94105

Jennifer Dunne, Santa Fe Institute

Dr. Dunne is the Vice President for Science at the Santa Fe Institute, where she has been on the faculty since 2007. Her research interests focus on the analysis, modeling, and theory of the organization, dynamics, and function of ecosystems. Dr. Dunne received an A.B. from Harvard where she studied philosophy, an M.A. in Ecology and Systematic Biology from San Francisco State University, a Ph.D. in Energy and Resources from UC Berkeley, and an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biological Informatics. In this short course, Dr. Dunne will discuss diversity, complexity and stability as they relate to the economy of nature and the ecology of financial systems.

Jessica Flack, Santa Fe Institute

Dr. Flack is a professor at the Santa Fe Institute, where she also directs SFI’s Collective Computation Group (C4). Her research focuses on collective computation and its role in the emergence of robust structure and function in nature and society. A central philosophical issue behind this work is how nature overcomes subjectivity inherent in information processing systems to produce collective, ordered states. She was formerly founding director of the Center for Complexity and Collective Computation in the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She received her Ph.D. from Emory, studying cognitive science, animal behavior and evolutionary theory, and BA with honors from Cornell University. In this short course Dr. Flack will discuss the role of diversity in collective intelligence.

Stephanie Forrest, Arizona State University; Santa Fe Institute

Stephanie Forrest is at Arizona State University, where she directs the Biodesign Center for Biocomputation, Security and Society, and Professor of Computer Science. At SFI, she is currently an External Professor, has served on the Science Board and as Vice President of Academic Affairs. She is a computer scientist who studies the biology of computation and computation in biology, including biological modeling of immunological processes and evolutionary diseases, cybersecurity, software engineering, and evolutionary computation. Prior to ASU, Forrest was Distinguished Regents Professor of Computer Science at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. She received her Ph.D. in Computer and Communication Sciences from the University of Michigan. In this short course Dr. Forrest will discuss the role of diversity in software systems.

Mirta Galesic, Santa Fe Institute

Dr. Galesic is Professor and Cowan Chair in Human Social Dynamics at the Santa Fe Institute, and Associate Researcher at the Harding Center for Risk Literacy at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, Germany. She studies how simple cognitive mechanisms interact with properties of the external environment to produce seemingly complex social phenomena. Dr. Galesic received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Zagreb, Croatia. In this short course Dr. Galesic will discuss the role of diversity in collective problem solving.

Mari Kooi, Santa Fe Institute

Mari Kooi was the CEO and founder (retired) of Wolf Asset Management International LLC, the principal company of the Wolf Group of Alternative Investment Companies. Wolf International managed over a billion in assets for institutional clients around the world. Products included fund of hedge funds and direct hedge funds. Ms. Kooi holds a Masters Degree in Finance from the University of Minnesota and has published widely on hedge fund investing. She serves as a trustee of the Santa Fe Institute.

David Krakauer, Santa Fe Institute

Dr. Krakauer is the William H. Miller President of the Santa Fe Institute. His research focuses on the evolutionary history of information processing mechanisms in biology and culture. He was previously chair of the faculty and a resident professor and external professor at the Santa Fe Institute. A graduate of the University of London, where he went on to earn degrees in biology, and computer science. Dr. Krakauer received his D.Phil. in evolutionary theory from Oxford University. Dr. Krakauer will server as the moderator for this two day event.

Scott Page, University of Michigan; Sante Fe Institute

Dr. Page is the Leonid Hurwicz Collegiate Professor of Com- plex Systems Political Science, and Economics at the University of Michigan, where he also directs the Center for the Study of Com- plex Systems. In 2011, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute. His research focuses on the myriad roles that diversity plays in complex systems. Dr. Page received his Ph.D. in Managerial Economics & Decisions Sciences from Northwestern University. In this short course Dr. Page will discuss cognitive diversity.

Ivy Ross, Google

Ivy Ross is currently the Vice President of Design and UX for the Hardware Product Area at Google. Previously, she was VP of Project Aura (Glass & Beyond) at Google and held executive positions ranging from head of product design and development to CMO and presidencies with several companies, including Calvin Klein, Swatch, Coach, Mattel, Art.com, Bausch & Lomb and Gap. A renowned artist, her innovative metal work in jewelry is in the permanent collections of 12 international museums. A winner of the prestigious National Endowment for the Arts grant, Ivy has also received the Women in Design Award and Diamond International Award for her creative designs.

John Tolson, Microsoft

John Tolson is currently an Agency Lead at Microsoft, where he has worked for the last two and a half years. Previously, he served as Executive Director of Client Relations and Development at adMarketplace. His career includes more than three decades of experience in communications, marketing and account management.

Geoffrey West, Santa Fe Institute

Dr. West is a Distinguished Professor at the Santa Fe Institute and has served as SFI President from July 2005 through July 2009. Prior to joining the Santa Fe Institute as a Distinguished Professor in 2003, he was the leader, and founder, of the high en- ergy physics group at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he is one of only approximately ten Senior Fellows. His long-term fascination in general scaling phenomena evolved into a highly productive collaboration on the origin of universal scaling laws that pervade biology from the molecular genomic scale up through mitochondria and cells to whole organisms and ecosystems. He received his BA from Cambridge University and his Ph.D. from Stanford University. In this short course, Dr. West will discuss diversity as it relates to scale and innovation.

HyeJin Youn, Northwestern University; Santa Fe Institute

Dr. Youn is a research fellow at Santa Fe Institute, a visiting fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, and a visiting scientist at MIT Media Lab. She is also Royal Society of Art fellow at London, UK. Before that, she was a senior research fellow at the Institute for New Economic inking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford. Her research focuses on the intersection of scale, innovation, and network theories. She holds a PhD in Statistical Physics at KAIST, and recently joined the faculty of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.