Luís M. A. Bettencourt
CV
Employment
July 2017 - present
Perform research and supervise graduate students and postdocs in population dynamics, epidemiology, ecological networks and the statistical theory of evolution. I teach The Mathematics of Evolution.
Professor
Department of Ecology and Evolution and the College, University of Chicago
July 2017 - present
This is a joint faculty position, with the Department at the University of Chicago that has been historically most associated with the study of cities and urbanization, known as the Chicago School of Urban Sociology. I teach Urban Sustainable Development, a graduate course. Most of our postdocs have been sociologists.
Associated Faculty (and Special Friend)
Department of Sociology, University of Chicago
March 2011 - June 2017
Lead research, and supervise postdocs in the structure and dynamics of complex systems, with an emphasis on cities and urbanization. I also teach at Institute's Workshops and Summer Schools, including the Sustainability Complex Systems Summer School, which I directed on two occasions (2016, 2019).
Professor
Santa Fe Institute
March 2005 - June 2011
Research in applied mathematics, statistical mechanics, complex networks and complex systems. I also lead teams of scientists on large scale projects, such as petascale models of human visual cognition. This project developed and combined emerging methods of statistical learning and artificial intelligent with models from neuroscience and high-performance computing to approach human level visual cognition in computational systems. This project also led to several patents and helped launch a tech start up in artificial intelligence applied to remote sensing imagery.
Scientist 4
Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory
March 2003 - March 2005
Lead research, and supervise postdocs in computational and mathematical models and theory of complex systems.
Technical Staff Member (Research Scientist)
Computer and Computational Sciences Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory
August 2000 - March 2003
Postdoctoral research on out-of-equilibrium quantum field theory, critical phenomena and statistical mechanics.
Senior Postdoctoral Associate
Center for Theoretical Physics, MIT
March 1997 - August 2000
Distinguished postdoctoral fellowships for research in statistical mechanics, out of equilibrium field theory and critical phenomena in cosmology and condensed matter systems.
Slansky Fellow & Director's Postdoctoral Fellow
Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory
September 1996 - March 1997
Postdoctoral research on out of equilibrium field theory and phase transitions.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Theoretical Physics, University of Heidelberg, Germany
Education
September 1992 - June 1996
Doctoral education on theoretical physics, cosmology and quantum field theory. Thesis title: Phase Transitions in the Early Universe. Supervisor Prof. Ray Rivers.
PhD
Theoretical Physics, Imperial College, University of London, UK
September 1987 - June 1992
Five year undergraduate degree (equivalent with a Bachelor's degree plus Masters) in Theoretical and Engineering Physics. Undergraduate thesis on CP-violation in Electroweak and Strong Quantum Field Theory and Quark Mixing Matrices.