Simon Garnier is a new assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, where he is starting a new interdisciplinary research group called the Swarm Lab. The Swarm Lab is dedicated to the study of collective behaviors and swarm intelligence in natural and artificial systems. Simon did his doctoral work at the University of Toulouse (France) with Dr. Guy Theraulaz and his postdoctoral work with Professor Iain Couzin at Princeton University. His research aims to reveal the detailed functioning of human and non-human collective intelligence in systems as diverse as ant colonies, fish schools, human crowds or robotic swarms. He is particularly interested in the mechanisms of information transfer and integration in large groups that can lead to adaptive (or intelligent) collective responses to environmental challenges. Simon was the recipient of a Fyssen Foundation postdoctoral grant in 2009 and his work on ant colonies, human crowds and swarm robotics has been featured widely in the mainstream media.
Postdoctoral researchers
STARTING JANUARY 2013.
Chris has been interested in social insects since childhood, and while he still turns over rocks at every opportunity to see what lives beneath, his interests have grown to include self-organisation, optimisation, problem-solving, information transfer and many other facets of collective behaviour.
His current research is focussed upon discovering the mechanisms by which collective natural systems achieve efficient, coordinated group behaviours. He has been fascinated by how simple behavioural rules at the individual level can lead a colony of thousands of small, nearly blind ants to collectively find the shortest path through a complex maze, even when the shape of the maze changes over time, and how an ant colony can choose to exploit the best of two food sources, when most individual ants don’t even know there are two food sources to choose from.
As well as colonies of ants, he has explored how the acellular slime mould Physarum polycephalum – which behaves as a collective system – can make decisions and solve navigational problems, without even a single neuron to guide it. Recent findings on the slime mould’s capabilities are redefining our definition of ‘intelligence’, so it is very exciting to be a contributor to this field.
Graduate students
Courtney has always been interested and inspired by the complexity of the natural world. As her interest matured, and she learned more about the issues of climate crisis, urban sprawl, and the resulting loss of biodiversity, she became certain that she had to join the ranks of the academic community so she could contribute to solving these pressing problems. In the words of Jane Goodall: “Only if we understand, can we care. Only if we care, will we help. Only if we help, shall they be saved.”
Her goal is to help others discover the wonder that surprisingly complex cognition and efficient behaviors can inspire, while at the same time contributing to the advancement of behavioral research and related fields. For this purpose, she attained a B.S. in Zoology from Michigan State University and has worked in several labs locally and internationally, and is now pursuing a Ph.D in biology from NJIT.
Previous projects Courtney worked on ranged from pest-control strategies to honeybee navigation to social learning in carrion crows. Now she is devoting her attention to collective cognitive function in animal groups. She plans to undertake a project using highly controlled lab experiments to test collective decision-making in Argentine ants (Linepithema humile), with the focus of identifying the principles of collective information combination and discrimination, including how animals learn in highly collective contexts.
Master students
Subash was always fascinated to wildlife since childhood. Growing up has always been unearthing the deepest secrets of life on earth. During his bachelors, while working on zebra fishes, he was intrigued about the manner in which the zebra fishes interacted. For recreation he often visits zoo’s and state parks, and was highly enticed to the dynamics of species migration. He is interested to work on the computational aspects of various social interactions, and is presently working on trail laying and trail following features of ant colonies.
Undergraduate students
Omar is a senior at NJIT. He has a passion for zoology and he aspires to be a zoo veterinarian. He volunteers as a docent at the Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange, NJ where he spends his time informing visitors about the animals as well as assists the keepers with ethograms and other tasks to better understand the animal residents. He believes ethology is a major factor in being able to diagnose physical ailments in animals and that there is no such thing as too much knowledge on a subject.