NETWORKS: Their Dynamics, Evolution, and resilience

Social network analysis is a rapidly expanding area of inquiry, from theoretical physicists to social psychologists. Exciting breakthroughs have been made possible not only through theoretical advances but also because of the increasing availability of massive data sets. Analysis of these sets can be coupled with computational studies to understand the emergence and dynamic trajectories of social networks. In addition, it is important to understand how that structure feeds back to affect the global properties of the populations they structure. Using primarily triadic analysis I explore structural commonalities across social networks governing highly diverse complex adaptive systems. Some areas I am currently exploring with this technique include interurban connectivity, global trade networks, terrorist organizations, ecosystem food webs, and ant colony communication. In each case, fundamental commonalities in each system can be further analyzed with evolutionary resilience techniques to determine the evolutionary benefits (and weaknesses) of such common structures.