|Talks|

Statistical physics of networks and our interconnected world

Complexity Speaker Series
Hybrid
Past Talk
Raissa D'Souza
Associate Dean of Research & Professor at University of California, Davis
Thu
,
Apr 23, 2026
1:30 pm
EST
Apr 23, 2026
1:30 pm
In-person
Portsoken Street
London, E1 8PH, UK
The Roux Institute
Room
100 Fore Street
Portland, ME 04101
Network Science Institute
2nd floor
Network Science Institute
11th floor
177 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 02115
Network Science Institute
2nd floor
Room
58 St Katharine's Way
London E1W 1LP, UK
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Talk recording

Our world relies on a collection of interdependent networks, from critical infrastructure networks to social networks to biological and ecological networks. Each network on its own can have distinct timescales and display non-linear collective behaviors. This talk features how statistical physics provides a toolkit for analyzing these systems-of-systems including phase transitions and cascading failures and how future directions require partnering with the fields of non-linear dynamics and control theory.

About the speaker
Raissa D’Souza is the Associate Dean of Research for the College of Engineering at UC Davis as well as Professor of Computer Science and of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. She is a member of the Board of Reviewing Editors at Science, and an External Faculty member at the Santa Fe Institute. She received a BS in Physics from University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana and a PhD in Statistical Physics from MIT, then was a postdoctoral fellow at Bell Laboratories and at Microsoft Research. She uses the tools of statistical physics and applied math to reveal the underlying principles of organization in complex systems. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, of the American Physical Society, and of the Network Science Society, and has received numerous best paper and test-of-time awards, including the inaugural Euler Award of the Network Science Society in 2019. She has served on the editorial board of numerous scientific journals, organized key scientific meetings, was the President of the Network Science Society from 2015-18, and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Complex Systems.
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Apr 23, 2026