Collective Intelligence Discussed at Capitol Hill Briefing
The American Mathematical Society (AMS) and Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute (SLMath) jointly hosted a Congressional briefing titled “Collective Intelligence: How Local Interactions Determine Global Coordination” on April 18, 2024 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The briefing was given by Dr. Dana Randall, Georgia Institute of Technology.
The AMS holds annual congressional briefings as a means to communicate information to policymakers. Speakers bring science directly to Capitol Hill decision-makers and offer stories of how federal investment in basic research in math and science pays off for American taxpayers and helps the nation remain a world leader in innovation.
Beginning in 2023, each briefing will highlight work connected to one of the NSF-funded Mathematical Sciences Institutes. The 2024 briefing was in partnership with Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute (SLMath).
Dr. Randall explained to Congressional Staff and other attendees how the mathematical concept of randomness is a key ingredient connecting the simple, local actions of individuals with the complex, emergent outcomes of intelligent collectives, providing innovative pathways for advanced technology, medicine, and science. She described how randomness may be the key to fire ants forming living bridges, how robot swarms collectively accomplish tasks, and how next-generation materials can be programmed to adapts to environmental cues.
Dr. Dana Randall is the Co-Executive Director of the Institute for Data Engineering and Science, is the ADVANCE Professor of Computing and is an Adjunct Professor of Mathematics at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
All photos courtesy of Scavone Photography.