SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES

Geometry of Departmental Discussions
You know what happens; you bring to the department a well-thought out proposal only to have some group "improve it." In using elementary geometry to explain why we must expect this annoying behavior, I also indicate why this phenomenon, and related issues, involve an interesting variety of mathematics ranging from game theory to singularity theory.

Developing a Qualitative Evolutionary Game Theory
In recent years, evolutionary game theory has been developed to analyze issues of dynamics for areas ranging from ecology and evolutionary biology to the social and behavioral sciences. But there are problems: first, the difficult mathematics limits what we can do. Second, because we really do not understand what dynamics is appropriate for many of these settings, we run the risk of working hard to make precise statements about equations that nobody believes. To avoid these and other difficulties, a "qualitative" evolutionary game theory is being developed. I will introduce the basic ideas.