Ilya Nemenman

Ilya Nemenman: Theoretical Biophysics @ Emory ilya_wikidb https://nemenmanlab.org/~ilya/index.php/Ilya_Nemenman MediaWiki 1.31.0 first-letter Media Special Talk User User talk Nemenman Wiki Nemenman Wiki talk File File talk MediaWiki MediaWiki talk Template Template talk Help Help talk Category Category talk Widget Widget talk Gadget Gadget talk Gadget definition Gadget definition talk Ilya Nemenman 0 1 3023 3017 2018-08-29T14:50:25Z Ilya 1 wikitext text/x-wiki ;[[image:positions.jpg|frameless|240px|right|Open positions|link=http://nemenmanlab.org/~ilya/index.php/Open_positions]] :''What is physics? ... -- The idea ... that the world is understandable.'' ::John J. Hopfield, ''APS News'' '''16''' (8):8 (2007). :''Don't model bulldozers with quarks.'' ::Nigel Goldenfeld and Leo P. Kadanoff, ''Science'' '''284''', 87-89 (1999). :''When I examined myself and my methods of thought, I came to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.'' ::Albert Einstein I am a physicist working to understand how biological systems, such as cells, organisms, and populations, learn from their surrounding environment and respond to it (we call this "biological information processing"). Put differently, :''What are the computational primitives employed by living organisms to compute their way through life?'' I am interested in physical problems in this biological domain. That is :''Are there phenomenological, coarse-grained, and yet functionally accurate representations of biological processes, or are we forever doomed to every detail mattering?'' In my mind, the question is not ''if'' some details don't matter, but ''which'' ones. A lot of smart people [[Smart Thoughts From Smart People#On the quest for ever more detailed models in science|have thought about this question before]]. The dream is that, by stripping unnecessary details, we will eventually understand the basics of how we can function reliably in an ever changing world. I hope to achieve some quantitative understanding of such complex phenomena as evolution, sensory processes, animal behavior, human cognition, and, who knows, maybe one day even human consiousness. What can be a more noble science goal? As I argued a while back: :''Studying [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory string theory] cannot be more exciting than studying the brain that can study string theory.'' <br>  {| style="width: 100%; margin:4px 0 0 0; background:none; border-spacing: 0px;"  | style="width:50%; border:1px solid #aec2f0; background:#f0f0f0; vertical-align:top;"| {| style="width:100%; vertical-align:top; background:#f0f0f0;" ! style="padding:2px;" | <h2 style="margin:3px; background:#cedff2; font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; font-family:sans-serif; border:1px solid #a3b0bf; text-align:left; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">News</h2> |- | style="padding:2px 5px" | <div> *[[News|News Feed]] *Ilya's [[Calendar: Travel and Visitors | Travel plans]] *[[Open positions]] in our research group *[[Smart Thoughts From Smart People]] *[[Issues]] </div> |- |} | style="border:1px solid transparent;" |  | style="width:50%; border:1px solid #aec2f0; background:#f0f0f0; vertical-align:top;"| {| style="width:100%; vertical-align:top; background:#f0f0f0;" ! style="padding:2px;" | <h2 style="margin:3px; background:#cedff2; font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; font-family:sans-serif; border:1px solid #a3b0bf; text-align:left; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">Work</h2> |- | style="padding:2px 5px;" | <div> *[[Lab Members]] *[[Projects|Research]] *[[FAQ]] -- read if you want to join our group *[[About our work]] *[[Teaching]] *[[Conference Organization]] </div> |- |} |}   <center>[[File:NSF.jpg|link=http://www.nsf.gov]] [[File:HFSP.png|80px|link=http://www.hfsp.org]] [[File:McDonnell.png|link=http://www.jsmf.org]]</center> [[Category:Ilya's Science]] [[Category:Ilya: General Information]] jwotga7wakfhr7o8gpc5y2fpzuz3nns