To be a Part of a Network or Not to be

Event abstract

Which network structures favour the rapid spread of new ideas, behaviour, or technologies? Under what circumstances can a minority of individuals influence an exceptional number of their peers? Our technological and financial-economical systems have become dependent on networks of considerable complexity. This has made the behaviour of these systems difficult to reason and hence made them susceptible to disruptions that transform localised events into cascading failures. The emergence of pervasive data on human mobility, migration and communication has ferreted out patterns that may answer such questions and that constitute thorough understanding via simple models. In this seminar, we will set the stage with examples/phenomena. Then with qualitative thought experiments and quantitative simple models, we will crystallise our thinking. Consequently, by interpreting the results of these models, we attempt to answer the questions posed at the beginning.

Speaker biography

Professor Ali Rana Atilgan, native of Istanbul, obtained his PhD degree in the School of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. He was awarded the Jefferson Goblet by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (first place in a nationwide paper contest) in 1989. His early works focused on explanation of intriguing patterns experimentally observed for structural members made out of composite materials. He was awarded one of the Encouragement Prizes by the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey in 1995 due to these achievements. Forecasting of chaotic time series, its micro-foundations, and algorithms within the framework of complex systems were developed by Professor Atilgan and funded by the Boeing Company in 1995-1997 period. He was appointed to full professorship in 1998 at Bogazici University, Istanbul and his later contributions are in the area of biomolecular processes and stochastic dynamical systems. He has formulated the motions of bio-molecular systems under different environmental conditions. The elastic network models have found wide area of applications in the biological community. With the aid of agent-based models combined with systems dynamics approaches have enabled his group to ferret out predictable moves of crowds when signals arrive the community with delay. Since 2006, he has been a full-time faculty member of the School of Engineering and Natural Sciences (Joint appointment in Industrial Engineering and Materials Science and Nanoengineering) at Sabanci University, and adjunct professor at the School of Engineering in Bogazici University. Professor Atilgan has advised more than 25 MS and 6 PhD students and has been PI/co-PI of about 25 international scientific projects. His papers were cited more than 3500 times according to the Web of Science (about 5000 according to the Google Scholar).