PRIZES AND HONOURS

March 28, 2024

MATHEMATICS AND SOCIETY
The Nathan and Beatrice Keyfitz Lectures
in Mathematics and the Social Sciences

A Public Lecture Series
Koffler Institute, 569 Spadina Avenue
Room KP 108

Follow this link for a map to the Koffler Institute.
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Parking is available in the University lot at 215 Huron or on street metered parking.
Theatre doors open at 5:40 pm, and the lecture begins at 6:00 pm.
The Fields Institute is pleased to host a series of public lectures on the topic of "mathematics and the social sciences". These lectures will be of interest to the university community as well as to individuals involved in public administration, economics, health policy, social and political science. The purpose of the series is both to inform the public of some of the ways quantitative methods are being used to design solutions to societal problems, and to encourage dialogue between mathematical and social scientists. The lecture series will be held annually. Lecturers are selected by a distinguished international committee consisting of both mathematicians and social scientisits. All lectures are open to the public and everyone is welcome.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007
6:00 p.m.

Introduction by Dr. Tim McTiernan, Vice-President, Research, UofT

Jon Kleinberg,
Professor of Computer Science, Cornell University

The Geography of Social and Information Networks

The rapid evolution of the on-line world over the past decade represents a blending of social and technological networks, and it is changing the ways in which we interact with information and with each other. It is also the leading edge of a revolution in measurement, with the digital traces of on-line interaction enabling the study of social processes at unprecedented levels of scale and resolution.

Making sense of this kind of data, and using it to shape the networks we inhabit, raise many new questions --- among them, how to synthesize information when there are a billion sources providing it; how to reason about privacy in a world where almost every transaction is recorded; and how to develop the scientific principles that can relate individual behavior to global properties of large populations. The resulting challenges require new ideas in mathematics, computing, and the social sciences, and point to opportunities at the emerging interface of these disciplines.


Jon Kleinberg is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Cornell University. His research interests are centered around issues at the interface of networks and information, with an emphasis on the social and information networks that underpin the Web and other on-line media. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the recipient of MacArthur, Packard, and Sloan Foundation Fellowships, the Nevanlinna Prize from the International Mathematical Union, and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Award for Initiatives in Research.

Parking is available in the University lot at 215 Huron or on street metered parking.

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