Speaker:

István Kovács, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University

Title:

How can we learn from noisy, incomplete, or even biased network data?

Abstract:

Network theory is a powerful tool to describe and study complex systems, and there has been tremendous progress in mapping large networks in all areas of science, leading to a growing library of complex network datasets. Yet, inherent limitations of the measurements lead to errors, biases and missing data. Therefore, as in any other quantitative field, it would be of paramount importance to characterize the uncertainty of our maps. Yet, unlike a simple error bar for a single valued quantity, the uncertainty of a network structure itself is expected to have a complex, network structure, requiring novel methodologies. Focusing on biological networks, we show how such detailed information can help us to solve key problems, such as link prediction, noise reduction or functional annotation. I will close by highlighting ongoing research directions and some surprising connections to modern physics. To conclude, putting error bars on our network maps is not a nuisance but an essential ingredient in addressing long standing problems in the field.

Speaker Bio:

István Kovács is Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Northwestern University. Previously he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Network Science Institute at Northeastern University, a visiting researcher in the Center for Cancer Systems Biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and at University of Toronto, as well as at the Department of Network and Data Science of the Central European University. He received a PhD in Physics from Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary, working at the Wigner Research Centre for Physics, during which he spent time at Semmelweis University and University of Saarbrücken, Germany. His group develops novel methodologies to predict the emerging structural and functional patterns in problems ranging from systems biology to quantum physics, in close collaboration with experimental groups.

Webinar:

Webinar link: https://northwestern.zoom.us/s/93326446732
Passcode: nico

About the Speaker Series:

Wednesdays@NICO is a vibrant weekly seminar series focusing broadly on the topics of complex systems and data science. It brings together attendees ranging from graduate students to senior faculty who span all of the schools across Northwestern, from applied math to sociology to biology and every discipline in-between.

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Speaker:

Cristopher Moore, Professor, Santa Fe Institute

Title:

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Abstract:

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Speaker Bio:

Cristopher Moore received his B.A. in Physics, Mathematics, and Integrated Science from Northwestern University, and his Ph.D. in Physics from Cornell. From 2000 to 2012 he was a professor at the University of New Mexico, with joint appointments in Computer Science and Physics. Since 2012, Moore has been a resident professor at the Santa Fe Institute. He has written 150 papers at the boundary between physics and computer science, ranging from quantum computing, to phase transitions in NP-complete problems, to the theory of social networks and efficient algorithms for analyzing their structure. He is an elected Fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Mathematical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. With Stephan Mertens, he is the author of The Nature of Computation from Oxford University Press.

Webinar:

A webinar link will be posted here shortly, or can be found at: bit.ly/WedatNICO

About the Speaker Series:

Wednesdays@NICO is a vibrant weekly seminar series focusing broadly on the topics of complex systems and data science. It brings together attendees ranging from graduate students to senior faculty who span all of the schools across Northwestern, from applied math to sociology to biology and every discipline in-between.

Related Info

Speaker:

Hope Michelson, Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, The University of Illinois

Title:

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Abstract:

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Speaker Bio:

Hope Michelson studies the dynamics of poverty and food security in low-income countries where market failures are a fact of life. One of her key subjects is the interaction of international development efforts with local and large-scale agribusiness. She investigates how small farmers respond to the expansion of international supply chains, the sourcing of agricultural products, and the buying and selling of agricultural inputs.

Webinar:

A webinar link will be posted here shortly, or can be found at: bit.ly/WedatNICO

About the Speaker Series:

Wednesdays@NICO is a vibrant weekly seminar series focusing broadly on the topics of complex systems and data science. It brings together attendees ranging from graduate students to senior faculty who span all of the schools across Northwestern, from applied math to sociology to biology and every discipline in-between.

Related Info

NICO is hosting a lightning talk seminar each term as a part of our Wednesdays@NICO seminar series. Northwestern graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are invited to participate. To sign up for future lightning talks, please visit: https://bit.ly/2lRqSXK

Speakers:

TBA

Webinar:

A webinar link will be posted here shortly, or can be found at: bit.ly/WedatNICO

About the Speaker Series:

Wednesdays@NICO is a vibrant weekly seminar series focusing broadly on the topics of complex systems and data science. It brings together attendees ranging from graduate students to senior faculty who span all of the schools across Northwestern, from applied math to sociology to biology and every discipline in-between.

Related Info