October 13, 2009 –
Butts
Three CALIT2-affiliated professors have been recognized recently for compelling research accomplishments.
A paper written by Carter Butts, associate professor of sociology, appeared in a special issue of Science magazine focused on network analysis. The work highlights the implications, applications and potential growth areas of the field.
Network analysis is an evolving science, according to Butts, and it’s important for researchers and policy-makers to recognize its range of capabilities
For example, Butts cites the spread of HIV. Early network models indicated the epidemic was driven by a small number of people with many sexual partners. Recent advances in the field, however, have allowed researchers to factor in additional dynamics that are important to the larger picture. “As we learn more about networks in a wider range of contexts, we are discovering sometimes surprising things about what does and does not matter for understanding social systems,” says Butts.
The paper appears in the magazine’s July 24 special issue.
Boellstorff
Anthropology professor Tom Boellstorff has received the 2009 Dorothy Lee Award for Outstanding Scholarship in the Ecology of Culture from the Media Ecology Association for his book, “Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human.”
Published in 2008, the book explores the online virtual world “Second Life” from an anthropological perspective. While researching the book, Boellstorff “lived” for two years in the virtual world, observing and questioning residents to learn how ideals of identity and society are being reshaped.
Boellstorff’s book, which also won Honorable Mention from the Association of American Publishers in its PROSE Award for Professional and Scholarly Excellence in Media and Cultural Studies, was featured in the Spring 2009 issue of Interface magazine.
Krichmar
Jeffrey Krichmar, associate professor of cognitive science, specializes in neurorobotics, using biological and neural data to program robots that can simulate human behaviors to advance the study of neuroscience.
Krichmar’s work with a test bed robot named CARL-1 explores how neuromodulators, chemical transmitters in the brain, affect certain behaviors. His work is featured in
the September 2009 issue of IEEE Robotics and Automation magazine.
Krichmar is also a lead researcher on a new $1.6 million National Science Foundation grant awarded jointly to UC Irvine and UC San Diego.
Researchers will delve into the specific areas of the brain responsible for decision-making and attention, which could lead to a better understanding of human behavior as well as improved robotic systems that can adapt to environmental changes.
They will test decision-making abilities in rodents, which will have to adapt to an altered environment in order to receive a food reward. Brain recordings taken directly from the rodents during the decision-making task will be digitally analyzed and programmed into CARL’s software-controlled “brain,” enabling the robot to simulate the same behavior.
“Simulating the attentional and decision-making capabilities of a rat in a robot will give us the opportunity to examine the entire artificial brain,” says Krichmar. “As the robot navigates the same challenging situations the rat faces, we’ll be able to see the areas of the brain being utilized to make decisions and any physical changes taking place.”
— Information and quotes courtesy of Heather Wuebker, School of Social Sciences E-NEWS
