Abstract：

What do migrating geese, flocking cranes, bait balls of fish, prey-predator systems, and synchronously flashing fireflies have in common? All of them are instances of "natural algorithms," that is, algorithms which have been designed by nature through evolution over millions of years. Unlike the human-manufactured variety, natural algorithms are engineered for survival and reproduction rather than speed and efficiency, though all these considerations often overlap. I will discuss why the study of natural algorithms offer exciting challenges for computer scientists and I will present new results on bird flocking.

Biography：

Bernard Chazelle is professor of computer science at Princeton University, where he has been on the faculty since 1986. He has held research and faculty positions at Carnegie-Mellon University, Brown University, Ecole Polytechnique, Ecole Normale Superieure, University of Paris, INRIA, Xerox Parc, DEC SRC, and NEC Research, where he was a Fellow. He received his Ph.D in computer science from Yale University in 1980. He is the author of the book "The Discrepancy Method."

Honors:

Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences;

Member, European Academy of Sciences;

Fellow, World Innovation Foundation;

ACM Fellow;

Guggenheim Fellow (1994);