----- Princeton Optimization Seminar ----- DATE: TODAY Thursday, December 1, 2016 TIME : 4:30PM LOCATION: Sherrerd Hall 101 SPEAKER: Bernard Chazelle , Princeton University TITLE: The Mathematics of Natural Algorithms Abstract: I will review some of the recent techniques we've used in our study of natural algorithms. These include Dirichlet series for matrix products, mean-field approximations in opinion dynamics, graph sequence grammars, anti-mixing methods for iterated learning, and tools for renormalizing network-based dynamical systems. The talk will be self-contained and non-technical. Bio: Bernard Chazelle is Eugene Higgins Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University, where he has been on the faculty since 1986. His current research focuses on the “algorithmic nature” of living systems. A professor at the Collège de France in Paris in recent years as well as a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, he received his PhD in computer science from Yale University in 1980. The author of the book, "The Discrepancy Method," he is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the European Academy of Sciences, the Association for Computing Machinery, and the recipients of three Best-Paper awards from SIAM. *** If you would like to subscribe to the mailing list of the optimization seminar series, please visit the link below or send an email with SUBSCRIBE opt-seminar in the body to listserv@lists.princeton.edu . https://lists.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=opt-seminar&A=1