KINGSTON, R.I. -- October 7, 2003 -- Biologist Geoffrey West, a senior fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the 2003 Phi Beta Kappa visiting scholar, will meet with students and give a free public lecture at the University of Rhode Island on Oct. 15.
West will discuss "The Complexity, Simplicity and Unity of Living Systems" at 4 p.m. in room 275 of the Chafee Social Science Center on URI’s Kingston Campus.
West is a leader in the burgeoning field of quantitative biology. His current work explores universal scaling laws in biology. These laws are linked to mathematical models that have shaped the way life operates and is organized, from the tiniest cell to entire ecosystems. This perspective suggests that life at all levels is sustained by branching networks. Biological systems are limited by the rates at which energy, materials and information are supplied through such networks.
During his stay, West will also visit undergraduate classes and meet informally with URI faculty and students.
West is currently a distinguished research professor at the Santa Fe Institute and a research professor of biology at the University of New Mexico. A fellow of the American Physical Society, he is the author of several books and the editor of Comments in Theoretical Biology.
West’s lecture is sponsored by Phi Beta Kappa, the Department of Biological Sciences, the Dean of the College of the Environment & Life Sciences, and the Office of the Provost. For more information contact Nancy Cook at 874-4667 or Karen Markin at 874-5576.
