Universal Features of Multiparameter Models: From Systems Biology to Critical Phenomena

Cornell University, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

NONTECHNICAL SUMMARY: This project carries out educational activity and theoretical study of complex systems, ranging from biological systems to complex technological processes. These complex systems depend on a large number of parameters, but study has indicated that they often exhibit general underlying characteristics that can make complex systems understandable as simple systems. The project will add to our general understanding those features which are intrinsic to complexity and thus transcend the detailed features that make up a particular complex system. While complex systems nearly always have a very large number of parameters needed as specifications, most are often unimportant is system operation, hence the assignment of the term ``Sloppy Model Universality'' to this feature. The investigator will use this notion of sloppy model universality to develop new methods for making models simpler and more understandable without losing the essential scientific information they contain, and to develop computer algorithms to solve models faster. Not only models, but complex system, like living things, should also share in this transcendent behavior; this project will explore implications for evolution. The Broader Impact of this research derives from its highly interdisciplinary character. It will build bridges between disparate fields, linking biology to materials physics, statistics to statistical mechanics, and differential geometry to data analysis. It will yield fundamental insights into the behavior of models with direct relevance to human society. The investigator's group is developing SloppyCell, a public domain software environment for systems biologists to allow rapid adoption of their new techniques into practical studies relevant to human health and drug design; they will develop a similar environment for studies of avalanches and crackling noise, aiding studies of earthquakes and cascading failures in the power grid. Finally, the investigator is an educator and mentor who regularly recruits students from underrepresented groups to join these research projects.