Difference between revisions of "People"

Revision as of 19:38, 25 March 2012

Evo Devo Universe is a global community of theoretical and applied physicists, chemists, biologists, cognitive and social scientists, computer scientists, technologists, philosophers, information theorists, complexity scholars and systems theorists who are interested in better characterizing the relationship and difference between evolutionary and developmental processes in the universe and its subsystems. The project originated from John Smart and Clément Vidal in Jan 2008.

Directors

EDU Directors do the main work of maintaining and moderating the research community, on a part-time basis (in alpha order by last name).

• Georgi Georgiev, physicist working on understanding the mechanisms for the measured exponential growth in complexity through time.
  Affiliations: Assistant Professor, Assumption College, Worcester, MA USA

• John M. Smart, systems theorist studying accelerating change and evolutionary development.
  Affiliations: Associate Professor, University of Advancing Technology, Tempe, AZ USA; President, Acceleration Studies Foundation, Mountain View, CA USA

• Clement Vidal, philosopher of science and cosmology, focusing on natural, comprehensive and systematic philosophy.
  Affiliations: Grad Student, Vrije Universiteit Brussels; Researcher, Centre Leo Apostel, ECCO Group, and Global Brain Institute, Brussels, Belgium

Institutionally-Affiliated Scholars

The following institutionally-affiliated scholars have agreed to publicly endorse and participate in the EDU interdisciplinary research community at some level to date. Other scholars can be found on our listserve, EDU-Talk. Listings are in alpha order by last name:

• Diederik Aerts, scholar in quantum physics, philosophy of science, and the construction of integrated worldviews.
  Affiliations: Professor, Vrije Universiteit Brussels - VUB; Director, Centre Leo Apostel for Interdisciplinary Studies, Brussels, Belgium

• Robert Aunger, evolutionary transitions theorist, expert in evolution of behavior, motivation, morality, technology, culture and complexity.
  Affiliations: Researcher, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom

• Yaneer Bar-Yam, developing new methods for the study of complex systems with application to scientific questions and social concerns.
  Affiliations: President, New England Complex Systems Institute, Cambridge, MA USA; Chairman, Internat'l Conf on Complex Systems (ICCS)

• Martin Beech, astronomer and professor, researching stellar evolution, meteorites and terraforming but also history of science and global issues.
  Affiliations: Professor of Astronomy, Campion College, University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada

• Adrian Bejan, distinguished engineering scientist, discoverer of the constructal law, a physical law of design generation in nature.
  Affiliations: J A Jones Professor, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Pratt School of Engrg, Duke University, Durham, NC USA

• Howard Bloom, distinguished author and scholar of cosmology, biology, paleontology and sociology.
  Affiliations: Visiting Scholar, New York University; Brooklyn, NY

• Terry Bristol, interdisciplinary scholar in history and philosophy of science, philosophy of engineering, complementarity, philosophy of thermodynamics.
  Affiliations: President, Institute for Science, Engineering and Public Policy, Portland, OR USA

• José Roberto Campanha, theoretical physicist and scholar in power law distributions and evolution.
  Affiliations: Professor, Department of Physics, Institute of Geosciences and Exact Sciences (IGCE), UNES, Sao Paulo, Brazil

• Jean Chaline, paleontologist and biologist applying scale relativity theory to biological and human evolution.
  Affiliations: Emeritus Director, Laboratory of Biogeosciences, University of Burgundy, a unit of National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)

• Milan M. Cirkovic, astrophysicist and scholar in cosmology, astrobiology, philosophy of science and futures studies.
  Affiliations: Associate Professor, Dept of Physics, University of Novi Sad; Senior Research Associate, Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

• James A. Coffman, developmental biologist and scholar interested in the relationship between development and causality.
  Affiliations: Associate Professor, Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, Salisbury Cove, ME USA

• Peter A. Corning, biologist, complex systems scholar, author of books and papers on the role of synergy in biological and human evolution.
  Affiliations: Director, Institute for the Study of Complex Systems, Friday Harbor, WA USA

• Lee Cronin, chemist, scholar in inorganic (non-carbon-based) cells, self-assembly, self-organization, and chemical evolution.
  Affiliations: Professor, Dept of Chemistry, University of Glasgow; Director, Cronin Laboratory, U. of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom

• Jean-Paul Delahaye, prolific author, science popularizer, mathematician, computer scientist researching algorithmic theory and its relation to our universe.
  Affiliations: Professor of Mathematics, Lille 1 Univ. of Science & Tech; Researcher, Multi-Agent Sys & Behaviors (SMAC) Group, , Villeneuve d'Ascq, France

• Joël de Rosnay, molecular biologist, complexity scholar, futurist, prolific author, and scholar in symbiosis and computer science.
  Affiliations: President, Biotics Intnat'l, Paris, France; Advisor, City of Science & Industry Museum, Paris, France

• Steven J. Dick, historian of science, prolific author, astronomer, and expert on astrobiology, astrosociology, and SETI.
  Affiliations: Chief Historian, NASA, 2003-2009. Member, Internat'l Academy of Astronautics. (Washington DC USA)

• Taner Edis, physicist, philosopher, scholar of complex systems and the naturalistic world view.
  Affiliations: Professor of Physics, Truman State University, Kirksville, MO USA

• Börje Ekstig, physicist, scholar of biological, social and technol. evolution, proposer of condensation of development.
  Affiliations: Retired Assoc. Professor of Science Education, Dept. of Curriculum Studies, U. of Uppsala, Uppsala Sweden

• George F. R. Ellis, mathematician, one of the world's leading theorists in cosmology. See the wikipedia article.
  Affiliations: Prof. Emeritus, Mathematics Dept, U. of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; Visiting Prof. of Astronomy, Queen Mary U. of London, London, UK

• Charles Fadel, scholar in global systems dynamics and educational curricula for the 21st century.
  Affiliations: Founder, Center for Curriculum Redesign, Boston, MA; Visiting Scholar, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

• Rainer Feistel, physicist and oceanographer, generalizing the concept of Huxley ritualization in animal behavior.
  Affiliations: Oceanographer, Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research, Rostock, Germany

• Georgi Georgiev, physicist working on understanding the mechanisms for the measured exponential growth in complexity through time.
  Affiliations: Assistant Professor, Assumption College, Worcester, MA USA

• Carlos Gershenson, complexity theorist, researching self-organization, evolution, ALife, and cognition.
  Affiliations: Director, Department of Computational Sciences, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico

• Richard Gordon, embryologist and theoretical biologist exploring development, genetics, and evolution.
  Affiliations: Professor, Department of Radiology, U. of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

• Jan Greben, physicist exploring cosmological parameters, quantum field theory, and universal hierarchy and evolution.
  Affiliations: Principal Scientist, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria, South Africa

• Hari Mohan Gupta, electrical engineer and scholar in power law distributions and evolution.
  Affiliations: Professor of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India

• William P. Hall, evolutionary biologist and organization theorist focusing on autopoiesis, emergence, and knowledge.
  Affiliations: Senior Fellow (Hon.), Melbourne School of Engineering, University of Melbourne; President, Kororoit Institute, Inc., Melbourne, Australia

• Stevan Harnad, cognitive scientist researching categorization, communication and consciousness.
  Affiliations: Professor, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Canada; Associate Professor, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom

• Francis Heylighen, systems theorist and cyberneticist focusing on the evolution of complexity.
  Affiliations: Research Professor, Vrije Universiteit Brussels - VUB; Director, ECCO Group, Brussels, Belgium

• David Holcman, mathematician and computational biologist modeling microstructures in biological systems.
  Affiliations: Director of Interdisciplinary Research, Department of Computational Biology, Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, France

• Gerard Jagers op Akkerhuis, ecologist and systems theorist interested in the hierarchical evolution of particles.
  Affiliations: Senior Researcher, Ecosystem Studies, AA Wageningen, Netherlands; Guest Scientist, Nat'l Envir. Research Inst. (DMU), Silkeborg/Roskilde, Denmark

• Hippokratis Kiaris, biologist and scholar interested in the role of the evolutionary and developmental microenvironment in health and disease.
  Affiliations: Assistant Professor and Director, Kiaris Lab, Department of Biochemistry, University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece

• Otto Laske, epistemologist, psychologist, scholar of cognitive development.
  Affiliations: Founder, Interdevelopmental Institute, Gloucester, MA USA

• John A. Leslie, philosopher of science and cosmology, distinguished scholar in anthropic reasoning.
  Affiliations: Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Philosophy, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

• Giuseppe Longo, mathematician, researcher in logic, theory of computation, interfaces between mathematics, physics, biology.
  Affiliations: Researcher, Ctr of Research in Applied Epistemology (CREA) and CIRPHLES, Dept. of Philosophy, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France

• Nicolás Lori, interdisciplinary researcher in neuroscience, logic and physics.
  Affiliations: Associate Researcher, IBILI, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra Portugal

• Jean-Pierre Luminet, astrophysicist presently specializing in black holes and cosmology.
  Affiliations: Astrophysicist, Paris Observatory and LUTH Cosmology Laboratory, Meudon, France

• G. Rama Murthy, computer engineer and specialist in neural networks and intelligent systems.
  Affiliations:

• Akop P. Nazaretyan, psychologist, culturologist, scholar of big (universal) history.
  Affiliations:

• Laurent Nottale, cosmologist and pioneering theorist in scale relativity and fractal space-time.
  Affiliations:

• Robert L. Oldershaw, cosmologist and philosopher studying discrete fractal paradigms and hierarchical systems theory.
  Affiliations:

• Steve Omohundro studies self-improving artificial intelligence and the evolution of natural intelligence.
  Affiliations:

• Alain Prochiantz, neurobiologist and specialist of cerebral morphogenesis and stochastic developmental processes.
  Affiliations:

• C. Henning Reschke, researcher in social evolutionary paradigms, information organisation and processes of change.
  Affiliations:

• Marko A. Rodriguez computer and cognitive scientist studying graph theory and its application to various areas including collective intelligence.
  Affiliations:

• Stanley N. Salthe, theoretical biologist, scholar in developmentalism, hierarchy structures, thermodynamics, and natural philosophy.
  Affiliations: Professor Emeritus, Biology, Brooklyn College, CUNY; Visiting Scientist in Biological Sciences, Binghamton University, SUNY, Binghamton, NY USA

• John M. Smart, systems theorist studying accelerating change and evolutionary development.
  Affiliations: Professor, University of Advancing Technology, Tempe, AZ USA; President, Acceleration Studies Foundation, Mountain View, CA USA

• Tony Smith, complex systems analyst studying emergence, cellular automata, and discrete processes.
  Affiliations:

• Fred Spier, anthropologist, scholar of big history (cosmic origins to modern society).
  Affiliations:

• Eric Steinhart is a computer scientist and philosopher interested in the application of evolutionary principles in fundamental ontology.
  Affiliations:

• John Stewart, evolutionary thinker, author and evolutionary activist.
  Affiliations:

• Robert E. Ulanowicz, eminent ecologist, pioneer of developmental ascendancy, and scholar of process philosophy.
  Affiliations:

• Rüdiger Vaas, astronomy editor of "Bild der Wissenschaft" and philosopher, focusing on cosmology (big bang, time, multiverse, far future) and anthropology.
  Affiliations:

• Pushkar G. Vaidya, astrobiologist, author, and proposer of the cosmic contact censorship hypothesis.
  Affiliations:

• Clement Vidal, philosopher of science and cosmology, focusing on natural, comprehensive and systematic philosophy.
  Affiliations: Grad Student, Vrije Universiteit Brussels; Researcher, Centre Leo Apostel, ECCO Group, and Global Brain Institute, Brussels, Belgium

• Jan Visser, physicist and cog. scientist, scholar in learning development from evolutionary and ecological perspectives.
  Affiliations:

• Bruce H. Weber, professor of biochemistry emeritus, and scholar in evolution, development, self-organization, natural selection, and complex systems.
  Affiliations:

• Hector Zenil, researcher in experimental algorithmic theory and its relation to the physical world.
  Affiliations:

Have you done research (peer reviewed or trade articles) in any topics related to EDU research questions? Please email Clement Vidal about being listed here, and if interested, fill-in the EDU-Talk subscription form to join the listserve discussions on these issues!

Independent Scholars

The following independent scholars, whose published work advances evolutionary and developmental scholarship in the estimation of the EDU community, have agreed to publicly endorse and participate in the community at some level to date. Other scholars can be found on our listserve, EDU-Talk. Listings are in alpha order by last name:

• Mary Ann Allison, author and scholar of complexity and evolutionary process in sociology and culture.
  Affiliations: Independent Scholar; Principal, The Allison Group, Brooklyn, NY USA

• Robin Allott, author and scholar in linguistics, evolutionary psychology, and linguistic theories of cultural evolution.
  Affiliations: Independent Scholar, Language Brain and Body Evolution, Seaford, United Kingdom

• Jon Beach, Author and scholar interested in the relationship between biological evolution, technological innovation and human consciousness.
  Affiliations: Independent Scholar, Orange CA USA

• Rick Bradford, physicist, cosmologist and engineer, researching cosmic coincidences and fine-tuning.
  Affiliations: Independent Scholar, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

• William R. Buckley, author and developer of machine self-replication and machine ontogeny.
  Affiliations: Independent Scholar, San Francisco Bay Area, CA USA

• John O. Campbell, researcher in evolutionary process in the universe, including Quantum Darwinism.
  Affiliations: Independent Scholar; Founder, UniversalDarwinism.com, Victoria, BC Canada

• John Chelen, scholar in cellular automata, information theory, intelligence, cosmology and quantum physics.
  Affiliations: Independent Scholar, Washington, DC USA

• Michael Chorost, author and scholar in human-machine interfaces and social and technological evolution and development.
  Affiliations: Independent Scholar, Science Writer; External Advisory Boards for Neuroscience Research, Northwestern and Brown Universities; Washington, DC USA

• Bruce Damer, researcher and author employing digital simulation in space, complexity and origin of life challenges.
  Affiliations: Independent Scholar and Project Leader, EvoGrid (origin of life simulation), Santa Cruz, CA USA

• James N. Gardner, complexity theorist, author, lawyer, scholar in philosophy, and proposer of the selfish biocosm hypothesis.
  Affiliations: Independent Scholar, Portland, OR USA

• William F. Harms, philosopher and scholar in cultural evolution, information, and moral ecologies.
  Affiliations: Philosophy Instructor and Independent Scholar, Seattle, WA, USA

• Hans Kuijper, retired economist and sinologist (China studies) turned systems scientist; application of complexity science to country and area studies.
  Affiliations: Independent Scholar, Rotterdam, Netherlands

• John McCrone, science writer and researcher in hierarchy theory, logic and mind science.
  Affiliations: Independent Scholar, webmaster, Dichotomistic.com, Christchurch, New Zealand

Are you an independent scholar who has done notable peer-reviewed research in topics related to EDU Themes? Please email Clement Vidal about being listed here, and if interested, fill-in the EDU-Talk subscription form to join the listserve discussions on these issues!

Associates

EDU Associates help with research community building, on a part-time basis (in alpha order by last name).

• Arnaud J. Blanchard, computer and cognitive scientist, scholar in intelligent systems, imitation, and emotion.
  Affiliations:

• Atanu Chatterjee, independent researcher studying complex systems; research interests encompass all areas of nature and natural processes.
  Affiliations: Student, Mechanical Engineering, Bhilai Institute of Technology, Durg, India

• James N. Gardner, complexity theorist, author, lawyer, scholar in philosophy, and proposer of the selfish biocosm hypothesis.
  Affiliations: Independent Scholar, Portland, OR USA

• Hans Kuijper, sinologist turned systems scientist; application of complexity science to country/area studies.
  Affiliations:

• Stefan Pernar, independent systems scholar, philosopher, and author.
  Affiliations:

• Eyal Sivan, integration architect studying ethics and social systems, proposer of the connective hypothesis.
  Affiliations:

Available Associate activities (per your interest and ability):

• Finding scholars from diverse backgrounds interested in exploring evolutionary and/or developmental models of universal change
• Building an EDU bibliography, doing wiki editing or authorship projects
• Peer-reviewing scholarly articles
• Helping with conference preparation (call for papers, minor organizational activities)

All Interested Scholars: Would you like to help manage and grow the EDU community? Can you commit at least four hours a week over a minimum of four months to help develop our community? Please email John Smart about becoming an Associate. All EDU members are welcome to participate in our fortnightly EDU Project teleconferences. Associates who participate actively and regularly may be asked to become Directors.