“If Darwin Had a Computer”
Dr. Ran Libeskind-Hadas
Speaker – Dr. Ran Libeskind-Hadas, R. Michael Shanahan Professor of Computer Science, Harvey Mudd College
Charles Darwin wrote in his famous “Origins of Species” that he could imagine that pairs of species, such as bees and flowers, might evolve in tandem: Flowers might evolve features that would make them more attractive to their bee pollinators and bees might evolve features to efficiently extract nectar from the flowers. Biologists since Darwin have found considerable evidence for this type of “coevolution” in nature. However, only with the advent of DNA sequencing and powerful computational methods have we begun to better understand the complex relationships between pairs of mutually evolving species. This talk will describe some surprising discoveries on coevolution that have been made in recent years and the methods that led to those discoveries. Professor Hadas received his A.B. degree from Harvard and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has taught at U. Illinois, Harvard, and MIT as well as Harvey Mudd. He is an extraordinarily popular teacher and sought-after speaker, able to explain complex topics to a lay audience.
Introduction: Bill Waggener
Fellowship: Pat Kelly
Greeter: Peter Boniface and Milt Wilson