Workshop 4: Insect Self-organization and Swarming
(March 14-18, 2011)
Organizers: David Sumpter, Madeleine Beekman, Stephen Pratt, Vijay Kumar, and Chad Topaz
Insect groups generate a wide range of interesting collective patterns and behaviours, for example the formation of ant trails, the building of elaborate nests, collective movement of honey bee swarms and marching locust bands, to name just a few. The complex non-linear nature of the mechanisms underlying such collective behaviour has generated a great deal of theoretical interest from mathematicians and physicists. Collective insect behaviour is one area where mathematical modelling and experiment have lived well side by side.
Collective insect behaviour is interesting from the point of view of evolution because understanding the non-linear dynamics provides insights into self-organization in natural systems which in turn serves as an inspiration for computer algorithms and robots. Many of the emergent collective phenomena involve synchronization where large numbers of individuals move in the same direction or co-ordinate their activities. Lastly, mass movement of insects such as grasshoppers and crickets involve large-scale interactions with the environment, whereby feedback between individuals within a group and their environment determine collective patterns.
Accepted Speakers
- Fred Adler (Mathematics, University of Utah)
- Andrew Bernoff (Mathematics, Harvey Mudd College)
- Iain Couzin (EEOB, Princeton University)
- Jean-Louis Deneubourg (Unite d'Ecologie Sociale, Libre de Bruxelles)
- Claire Detrain (Service d'Ecologie Sociale, Universite Libre de Bruxelles)
- Audrey Dussutour (DYNACTOM, CRCA)
- Leah Edelstein-Keshet (Mathematics, University of British Columbia)
- Nina Fefferman (Biology, Rutgers University)
- Jennifer Fewell (Social Dynamics & Complexity, Arizona State University)
- Nigel Franks (School of Biological Sciences, University Bristol)
- Deborah Gordon (Biology, Stanford University)
- Paulien Hodgeweg (Biology, Universiteit Utrecht)
- Cristian Huepe (Unaffiliated research scientist)
- P.S. Krishnaprasad (Electrical & and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland)
- Naomi Leonard (Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University)
- James Marshall (Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield)
- Alcherio Martinoli (Intelligent Systems, Ecole Polytec Fed Lausanne)
- Martin Middendorf (Computer Science, University of Leipzig)
- Mary Myerscough (Mathematics & Statistics, University of Sydney)
- Radhika Nagpal (Engineering & Applied Science, Harvard University)
- Kevin Passino (Electrical & Computer Engineering, Ohio State University)
- William Romey (Biology, State University of New York at Potsdam)
- Tom Seeley (Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University)
- Stephen Simpson (School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney)
- Guy Theraulaz (Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, Universite Paul Animale)
- Craig Tovey (Industrial & Systems Engineering, Georgia Tech)
