Raissa D'Souza homepage

Raissa D'Souza

Associate Professor
University of California, Davis
Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering
Center for Computational Science and Engineering
Graduate Group in Computer Science
Graduate Group in Applied Math

External Professor, Santa Fe Institute

office: 2095 Bainer/1101 MSB
phone: 530-754-8405
email: raissa at cse.ucdavis.edu

Research: Phase transitions, self-organization, and the structure, function and growth of networks.

Network Courses: MAE 298, Network Theory and Applications, Winter 2008.

NSF VIGRE Research Focus Group on Probability, Fall 2007.

Selected publications: (Full publication list)

D. Achlioptas, R. M. D'Souza and J. Spencer, "Explosive Percolation in Random Networks", Science, 323 (5920) 1453-1455, 2009. (Link for free access)
-- Accompanying Perspective: T. Bohman, "Emergence of Connectivity in Networks", Science, 323 (5920) 1438-1439, 2009.
-- Eurekalert Press Release, New Scientist Article

R. M. D'Souza, C. Borgs, J. T. Chayes, N. Berger, and R. Kleinberg, "Emergence of Tempered Preferential Attachment From Optimization", PNAS, 104, (15), 6112-6117, 2007, (Cover Story) . Accompanying UCDavis press release.

R. M. D'Souza, "BML revisited: Statistical physics, computer simulation and probability", Complexity, 12, (2), 30-39, 2006.

R. M. D'Souza, "Coexisting phases and lattice dependence of a cellular automata model for traffic flow", Physical Review E, 71, 066112, 2005.

( Movie of the elusive intermediate phases).

R. M. D'Souza and N. H. Margolus. "Thermodynamically reversible generalization of Diffusion Limited Aggregation", Physical Review E 60 (1), 1999.

( Movie of RA growth.)

Professional history:

7/2008 - present, Associate Professor, UC Davis.

2007 - present, External Professor, Santa Fe Institute.

2005 - 6/2008, Assistant Professor, UC Davis. Joined GGCS 2005, GGAM 2007.

2002-2005, Postdoctoral Fellow, Microsoft Research: Theory Group.

1999-2002, Postdoctoral Fellow, Bell Labs: Math Center and Theoretical Physics Groups

1999, PhD in Statistical Physics, MIT, for work done jointly in the Lab for Computer Science.

Recent honors:

Kavli Fellow, National Academy of Sciences USA: 2006, 2007, 2008.

Teaching:

Mathematics Illuminated, (Episodes 7 and 11). Series produced by Annenberg Foundation and Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Spring 2009, "Advanced topics in network theory"

Fall 2008, ENG 105, "Thermodynamics"

Fall 2007, New graduate seminar: NSF VIGRE Research Focus Group on Probability.

Spring 2008 New graduate class: MAE 298, "Network Theory and Applications", (2007 version) and (2006 version)

Fall 2006. Winter 2006. Spring 2008. ENG 102, "Dynamics"

Winter 2007, ENG 105, "Thermodynamics"

Upcoming workshops and talks: (Click here to view talks available for download)

Organizing:

11th Kavli Frontiers of Science, sponsored by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Irvine CA, December 2008 (Symposium Co-chair).

10th Kavli Frontiers of Science, sponsored by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Japan, December 2007 (Organizing committee member).

European Conference on Complex Systems, University of Oxford, 25-29 September 2006 (TPC member).

2009

Physics Colloquium, UC Davis, Feb 9, 2009.

Physics Colloquium, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, May 20, 2009.

Invited lecture, Canadian Discrete and Algorithmic Mathematics Conference, Montreal, May 25, 2009.

Invited lecture, NetSci 2009, Venice Italy, 29 June - 03 July.

Invited participant, "Lakeside Research Days", University of Klagenfurt Austria, 13 July - 17 July.

2008

Physics Colloquium, University of Maryland, April 29th, 2008.

Keynote address, Davis SIAM Student Research Conference, May 3, 2008.

ICME Colloquium, Stanford University, May 19, 2008.

Opening Plenary Session, Supernova 2008: Challenges for the Network Age, June 19, 2008.

The Network Resilience Challenge, Secretary of Defense Highlands Forum, Wilmington, DE, Oct 5-7, 2008.

NAKFI Complex Systems, Irvine CA, Nov 12-15, 2008.

Bayesian Statistics and Massive Data Streams, Applied Math Session JAFOS, Irvine CA, Dec 4-7, 2008.

2007

DIMACS-Georgia Tech "Workshop on Complex Networks and Systems", January 22-24, 2007 (Invited Lecture).

Institute for Pure and Applied Math, "Random Curves, Surfaces, and Transport", April 16 - 20, 2007 (Invited Lecture).

Institute for Pure and Applied Math, "Random and Dynamic Graphs and Networks", May 7 - 11, 2007 (Invited Lecture).

NetSci 2007, May 20-25, 2007 (Invited Lecture).

SFI Complex Systems Summer School, Beijing, China. July 23-27, 2007 (Faculty Lecturer).

Network Dynamics and Traffic Control, Jamming and Flow, Applied Math Session JAFOS, Japan, Dec 2007.

2006

AMS Meeting, Special Session on Probability and Statistical Physics, April 29-30, 2006 (Invited Lecture).

MAA Prep Workshop, Mathematics of Markov Chain Monte Carlo, June 12-16, 2006 (Invited Lecturer).

SFI Complex Systems Summer School, Beijing, China. July 2006 (Faculty Lecturer).

American Institute of Mathematics, "Workshop on Phase Transitions in Physics, Computer Science, Combinatorics and Probability Theory", Palo Alto, CA, August 21-25, 2006 (Invited participant).

9th Annual Kavli Frontiers of Science, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Irvine, CA, December 8-10, 2006 (Invited participant).

Valparaiso Complex Systems Institute (ISCV), Chile.

(Organizing the December 2006 residency month on "Networks and Statistical Physics")

Group members:

Dr. Soumen Roy, Postdoctoral Scholar.

Dr. Elizabeth Leicht, Postdoctoral Scholar.

Haoran Wen, MAE PhD Candidate. Networks and Open-Source Software.

Daniel Wuellner, GGAM PhD Candidate.

Osamu Yamaguchi, Visiting Scientist, JFE R&D Corp.

Nicholas Linesch, Applied Math, BS 2007. TTP, MS Candidiate. Traffic modeling.

Some fun things:

Rock climbing

Sailing

A poem John Preskill wrote to introduce my Caltech physics colloquium.