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    <title>Swarm Lab</title>
    <description>Welcome to the Swarm Lab where we study Swarm Intelligence in natural and artificial systems.</description>
    <link>http://localhost:4000/</link>
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    <pubDate>Tue, 01 Oct 2024 08:19:02 -0400</pubDate>
    <lastBuildDate>Tue, 01 Oct 2024 08:19:02 -0400</lastBuildDate>
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      <item>
        <title>Postdoctoral position - Emergent energetic regulation in social systems</title>
        <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;THIS POSITION IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The SwarmLab at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.njit.edu/&quot;&gt;New Jersey Institute of Technology&lt;/a&gt; (NJIT) is seeking a postdoctoral researcher with expertise in animal behavior and lab experimentation to join an NSF-funded research project led by Dr. Simon Garnier (NJIT), in collaboration with &lt;a href=&quot;https://wp.nyu.edu/dsl/&quot;&gt;Prof. Maurizio Porfiri&lt;/a&gt; (NYU), &lt;a href=&quot;https://math.vt.edu/people/faculty/abaid-nicole.html&quot;&gt;Dr. Nicole Abaid&lt;/a&gt; (Virginia Tech), &lt;a href=&quot;http://users.eecs.northwestern.edu/~mrubenst/&quot;&gt;Dr. Mike Rubenstein&lt;/a&gt; (Northwestern University), and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.lovetheants.org/lab/&quot;&gt;Dr. James Waters&lt;/a&gt; (Providence College). This project brings together biologists, theoreticians, and engineers to study distributed energetic regulation in ant colonies. The objectives of the project are (1) to increase the overall understanding of emergent regulation networks in social systems and (2) to derive general principles for applications such as autonomous robotic swarms.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/img/posts/2015-07-01-postdoc-position-available/we-are-hiring.png&quot; alt=&quot;We&apos;re hiring&quot; class=&quot;sixty center&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;More specifically, the postdoctoral researcher will investigate whether biological collectives exhibit energetic regulation in response to both weak and strong variations in energy demand and availability, and how this impacts their biological productivity. To this end, the postdoctoral researcher will mainly perform behavioral experimentation and physiological measurements with colonies of clonal raider ants, &lt;em&gt;Ooceraea biroi&lt;/em&gt;, to determine:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ol&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;the physiological correlates of the activity of ant colonies as their size, energetic demand, and environmental conditions are experimentally manipulated;&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;the individual and collective behaviors of ants as the size, energetic demand, and environmental conditions of the colony are modified.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The postdoctoral researcher will also be given ample opportunity to participate in collaborative activities with the other teams involved in the project. In particular, the postdoctoral researcher may participate in the creation and analysis of dynamical models of collective energetic regulation and their application to swarm robotics.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The position can start as early as September 1st, 2022, and is expected to be filled no later than January 1, 2023, to respect the terms of the NSF URoL grant. The position is for 3 years but may be extended if additional funding is secured during the project. In addition, the PI and the other senior researchers involved in the project will work with the postdoctoral researcher toward securing independent funds for their future career.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Potential candidates are strongly encouraged to contact Simon Garnier (&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:garnier@njit.edu&quot;&gt;garnier@njit.edu&lt;/a&gt;) to discuss the details of the project and learn more about the position. Applications will be reviewed as they are received. The application period will remain open until filled.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;1-profile&quot;&gt;1. Profile&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;We are seeking candidates with the following profile:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;A strong interest in conducting collaborative research. In particular, candidates should be willing to engage in collaborative activities outside their primary discipline.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Experience with and/or strong desire for working in an interdisciplinary environment.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Knowledge and experience in lab experimentation, animal behavior, and/or social insect biology. Experience in all these areas at once is not required, but the candidates should at least demonstrate an interest in engaging in all of them.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;A willingness to travel regularly (typically 3-4 times a year) to the laboratories of the other teams involved in the project (in particular, the group of Dr. James Waters) to coordinate the research activity.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;While not essential for the position, knowledge and experience in using modern statistical tools (e.g. GLMMs), and/or machine learning techniques (e.g. ANNs, classifiers), and/or agent-based modeling methods, and/or mathematical modeling approaches is a plus.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;2-essential-functions&quot;&gt;2. Essential functions&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The successful candidate will be expected to fulfill the following essential functions:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Lead the preparation, execution, and analysis of the experimental portion of the project in collaboration with the research group of Dr. James Waters.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Contribute to or lead lab publications, conference submissions, as well as grant proposals.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Act as a mentor to diverse and ambitious students in the SwarmLab and the laboratories of the other teams involved in the project, as well as collaborate effectively with colleagues and support staff.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Through mentorship and strategic planning with the PI, develop additional skills and experience valuable to long-term career goals.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;While the functions of the successful candidate will be primarily focused on the goals of the NSF-funded research project, there will be opportunities to develop independent projects as well as participate in other ongoing lab initiatives.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;3-mentoring&quot;&gt;3. Mentoring&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The successful candidate will receive direct guidance in mentoring students, the development of new scientific skill sets, and career planning. In addition, funding is available to attend development workshops and conferences. Part of the project planning will include a roadmap for generating products that correspond with the candidate’s long-term career goals.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The full postdoctoral mentoring plan associated with this research project is available upon request.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;4-the-lab&quot;&gt;4. The lab&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The SwarmLab is an interdisciplinary research lab that studies the mechanisms underlying the coordination of large animal groups, such as ant colonies or human crowds, and their applications to complex problems such as the organization of pedestrian traffic or the control of robotic swarms. We study how information is exchanged and transformed during interactions between the members of a group, and how this can lead to the emergence of successful or catastrophic group behaviors.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;In this project, the SwarmLab is associated with the research groups of &lt;a href=&quot;https://wp.nyu.edu/dsl/&quot;&gt;Prof. Maurizio Porfiri&lt;/a&gt; (NYU), &lt;a href=&quot;https://math.vt.edu/people/faculty/abaid-nicole.html&quot;&gt;Dr. Nicole Abaid&lt;/a&gt; (Virginia Tech), &lt;a href=&quot;http://users.eecs.northwestern.edu/~mrubenst/&quot;&gt;Dr. Mike Rubenstein&lt;/a&gt; (Northwestern University), and &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.lovetheants.org/lab/&quot;&gt;Dr. James Waters&lt;/a&gt; (Providence College). Details on the research interests and activities of these research groups can be found in the provided links.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;5-the-department&quot;&gt;5. The department&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The SwarmLab is part of the Department of Biological Sciences at NJIT. Located in NJIT’s urban campus in Newark, the lab is part of a vibrant and active research department, with strengths in ecology, systematics, animal behavior, functional morphology, as well as cellular and neurobiology. In addition, NJIT has strong research groups in engineering, computer science, and mathematics, and is situated in the very academically-dense New York City metro area, with universities like Columbia, NYU, CUNY, Rockefeller, Princeton, Rutgers, and more within an hour range.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;6-application-material&quot;&gt;6. Application material&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Please send a cover letter motivating your application for the position (2 pages max), a CV including contact information for 3 references (the references will be contacted directly by us if necessary), and the link to your Google Scholar page. All material should be addressed to &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:jobs@theswarmlab.com&quot;&gt;jobs@theswarmlab.com&lt;/a&gt;. Alternatively, you can submit your application material directly at &lt;a href=&quot;https://njit.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/1/home/requisition/4480?c=njit&quot;&gt;https://njit.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/1/home/requisition/4480?c=njit&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        <pubDate>Tue, 27 Sep 2022 00:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
        <link>http://localhost:4000/blog/2022/09/27/postdoc-position/</link>
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        <category>blog</category>
        
      </item>
    
      <item>
        <title>Postdoctoral position available on NSF-funded project</title>
        <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;THIS POSITION IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The SwarmLab at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.njit.edu/&quot;&gt;New Jersey Institute of Technology&lt;/a&gt; (NJIT) is seeking a postdoctoral researcher with expertise in animal behavior and field experimentation to join an NSF-funded research project led by Dr. Simon Garnier (NJIT) and &lt;a href=&quot;http://users.eecs.northwestern.edu/~mrubenst/&quot;&gt;Dr. Mike Rubenstein&lt;/a&gt; (Northwestern University). This project brings together biologists and engineers to achieve two goals: (1) understand the principles of self-assembling construction in army ants, and (2) adapt these principles to create a new generation of robots capable of self-assembling in unpredictable environments.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/img/posts/2015-07-01-postdoc-position-available/we-are-hiring.png&quot; alt=&quot;We&apos;re hiring&quot; class=&quot;sixty center&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The postdoctoral researcher will work mainly on achieving the first goal by studying the construction by army ants of living structures such as bridges (see video below from previous experiments) and bivouacs. To achieve this goal, the postdoctoral researcher will perform field experiments making use, among other things, of a custom field CT-scanner, developed and tested during a previous field season in order to measure the 3D dynamics of the construction process. However, the postdoctoral researcher will also be given ample opportunity to participate in activities linked to the second goal, in particular, the creation and analysis of dynamical models of collective self-assemblage and their application to swarm robotics.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p style=&quot;text-align:center&quot;&gt; &lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/embed/TLu5CxAw40A&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allow=&quot;accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture&quot; allowfullscreen=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt; &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The position is starting as early as March 1st, 2021, and is expected to be filled no later than June 1, 2021, in order to perform a first field season during the summer of 2021. The position is for 2.5 years but may be extended if additional funding is secured during the course of the project. In addition, the two PIs will work with the postdoctoral researcher toward securing independent funds for their future career.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Potential candidates are strongly encouraged to contact Simon Garnier (&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:garnier@njit.edu&quot;&gt;garnier@njit.edu&lt;/a&gt;) to discuss the details of the project and learn more about the position. Applications will be reviewed as they are received. The application period will remain open until filled.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;profile&quot;&gt;Profile&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;We are seeking candidates with the following profile:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;A strong interest in conducting collaborative research. In particular, candidates should be willing to engage in collaborative activities outside of their primary discipline.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Experience with and/or strong desire for working in an interdisciplinary environment&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Knowledge and experience in field experimentation, animal behavior, and/or social insect biology. Experience in all these areas at once is not required but the candidates should at least demonstrate an interest in engaging in all of them.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;A willingness to spend several months every year (typically, 2 months per year) working at a tropical research station to perform the field experiments required for the project. Travel,  board, and room will be covered by the project during these periods. Funds are also available to hire field assistants and the two PIs will also come to the station each year to help set up the experiments.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;While not essential for the position, knowledge and experience in using modern statistical tools (e.g. GLMMs), and/or machine learning techniques (e.g. ANNs, classifiers), and/or agent-based modeling methods, and/or mathematical modeling approaches is a plus.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;essential-functions&quot;&gt;Essential functions&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The successful candidate will be expected to fulfill the following essential functions:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Lead the preparation, execution, and analysis of the experimental portion of the project in collaboration with the two PIs.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Contribute to or lead lab publications, conference submissions, as well as grant proposals.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Act as a mentor to diverse and ambitious students in the lab and at the field station, as well as collaborate effectively with colleagues and support staff.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Through mentorship and strategic planning with the PI, develop additional skills and experience valuable to long-term career goals.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;While the functions of the successful candidate will be primarily focused on the goals of the NSF-funded research project, there will be opportunities to develop independent projects as well as participate in other ongoing lab initiatives.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;mentoring&quot;&gt;Mentoring&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The successful candidate will receive direct guidance in mentoring students, the development of new scientific skillsets, and career planning. In addition, funding is available to attend development workshops and conferences. Part of the project planning will include a roadmap for generating products that correspond with the candidate’s long-term career goals.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;the-lab&quot;&gt;The lab&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The SwarmLab is an interdisciplinary research lab that studies the mechanisms underlying the coordination of large animal groups, such as ant colonies or human crowds, and their applications to complex problems such the organization of pedestrian traffic or the control of robotic swarms. We study how information is exchanged and transformed during interactions between the members of a group, and how this can lead to the emergence of successful or catastrophic group behaviors.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;In this project, the SwarmLab is associated with the collective robotics lab of Dr. Mike Rubenstein at Northwestern University. The Rubenstein lab seeks to advance the control and design of multi-robot systems, enabling their use instead of traditional single robots and to solve problems for which traditional robots are not suitable.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;the-department&quot;&gt;The department&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The lab is part of the Federated Department of Biological Sciences, which spans Rutgers University–Newark and NJIT. Located in NJIT’s urban campus in Newark, the lab is part of a vibrant and active research department, with strengths in ecology, systematics, animal behavior, functional morphology, as well as cellular and neurobiology. In addition, NJIT has strong research groups in engineering, computer science, and mathematics, and is situated in the very academically-dense New York City metro area, with universities like Columbia, NYU, CUNY, Rockefeller, Princeton, and more within an hour range.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;application-material&quot;&gt;Application material&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Please send a cover letter motivating your application for the position (2 pages max), a CV including contact information for 3 references (the references will be contacted directly by us if necessary), and the link to your Google Scholar page. All material should be addressed to &lt;a href=&quot;jobs@theswarmlab.com&quot;&gt;jobs@theswarmlab.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        <pubDate>Thu, 07 Jan 2021 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
        <link>http://localhost:4000/blog/2021/01/07/postdoc-position/</link>
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      <item>
        <title>Editorial - Novel Technological and Methodological Tools for the Understanding of Collective Behaviors</title>
        <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/img/posts/editorial/trajs.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Logo&quot; class=&quot;center full&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://directory.unamur.be/staff/etuci&quot;&gt;Elio Tuci&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://laral.istc.cnr.it/trianni/&quot;&gt;Vito Trianni&lt;/a&gt;,
&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.shoalgroup.org/&quot;&gt;Andrew King&lt;/a&gt;, and Simon recently wrapped up a
Research Topic (special edition) for &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/robotics-and-ai&quot;&gt;Frontiers in Robotics and AI&lt;/a&gt;.
This Research Topic brings together a collection of studies that focus on
technological and methodological tools that can support the understanding of
collective behaviors. The contributions included within the Research Topic can
be broadly categorized as: (i) Review Articles, (ii) Tools and Technologies, and
(iii) Empirical Studies.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The editorial for this Research Topic can be found at:
&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2019.00139/full&quot;&gt;https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2019.00139/full&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The full list of articles published in this Research Topic can be found at: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/5669/novel-technological-and-methodological-tools-for-the-understanding-of-collective-behaviors&quot;&gt;https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/5669/novel-technological-and-methodological-tools-for-the-understanding-of-collective-behaviors&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        <pubDate>Tue, 10 Dec 2019 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
        <link>http://localhost:4000/blog/2019/12/10/editorial/</link>
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      <item>
        <title>Slime mold on Science Friday</title>
        <description>&lt;p&gt;Our very own slime mold (&lt;em&gt;Physarum polycephalum&lt;/em&gt;) was the first organism featured
on the new &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencefriday.com/&quot;&gt;Science Friday&lt;/a&gt; segment “Charismatic
Creature”. Simon was live with &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencefriday.com/person/elah-feder/&quot;&gt;Elah Feder&lt;/a&gt;
and  &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencefriday.com/person/ira-flatow/&quot;&gt;Ira Flatow&lt;/a&gt; to discuss
the weird intelligence of our favorite blob.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;You can find out more about this new Science Friday segment at
&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sciencefriday.com/slimemold/&quot;&gt;https://www.sciencefriday.com/slimemold/&lt;/a&gt;
and listen to it below:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;iframe width=&quot;100%&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; scrolling=&quot;no&quot; frameborder=&quot;no&quot; allow=&quot;autoplay&quot; src=&quot;https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/723833902&amp;amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;amp;auto_play=false&amp;amp;hide_related=false&amp;amp;show_comments=true&amp;amp;show_user=true&amp;amp;show_reposts=false&amp;amp;show_teaser=true&amp;amp;visual=true&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;
</description>
        <pubDate>Fri, 06 Dec 2019 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
        <link>http://localhost:4000/blog/2019/12/06/scifri/</link>
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        <title>SINNERS 2020 - Call for abstracts</title>
        <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/img/posts/sinners/SINNERS_logo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Logo&quot; class=&quot;forty wrap-around-right&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Mark your calendar! The 10th Social Insects iN the North-East RegionS meeting,
or &lt;a href=&quot;https://twitter.com/hashtag/SINNERS2020&quot;&gt;#SINNERS2020&lt;/a&gt;, will be held on
March 7-8 at &lt;a href=&quot;https://pioneerworks.org/&quot;&gt;Pioneer Works&lt;/a&gt; in Brooklyn, NY. It is
co-organized by the &lt;a href=&quot;https://bardenlab.org/&quot;&gt;Barden lab&lt;/a&gt;, the
&lt;a href=&quot;https://sites.google.com/site/jessicalwarelab/&quot;&gt;Ware Lab&lt;/a&gt; and the SwarmLab.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;A call for abstracts is now open and will close of January 25, 2020. You can
submit your abstracts &lt;a href=&quot;https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSei-kCWx1uwRqiqpKABzYUSy5wt3YmA3Sn0xRlVV_Qpcbv52A/viewform&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;More information about registration and getting there will follow soon.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;SINNERS is a more or less annual gathering of scientists working on social insects
and located more or less in the north eastern part of the US. Since 2012, it has
brought together a diverse, creative group of students and scientists to share
the remarkable advances of social insect science. Presentations are all centered
on social insect systems, but cover a wide range of topics, including: behavioral
ecology, microbiomes and symbiosis, pollination, agricultural applications,
neuroanatomy, and much more. This conference builds lasting research relationships
between scientists at all stages of their careers. In addition, it provides an
excellent opportunity for students and postdocs to receive feedback on their
work from knowledgeable senior level researchers and peers.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        <pubDate>Wed, 04 Dec 2019 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
        <link>http://localhost:4000/blog/2019/12/04/sinners/</link>
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      <item>
        <title>Postdoctoral position available on DARPA-funded project</title>
        <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;THIS POSITION IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The SwarmLab at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.njit.edu/&quot;&gt;New Jersey Institute of Technology&lt;/a&gt; (NJIT) is seeking a postdoctoral researcher with expertise in the modeling and analysis of collective behaviors and complex systems. The successful candidate will join a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.darpa.mil/&quot;&gt;DARPA&lt;/a&gt;-funded research project aimed at testing and validating modeling methods for detecting the onset of migrations and predicting their final destinations using ant colonies as a model system.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;/img/posts/2015-07-01-postdoc-position-available/we-are-hiring.png&quot; alt=&quot;We&apos;re hiring&quot; class=&quot;sixty center&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The position is starting as early as August 1st, 2019, and is expected to be filled no later than October 1, 2019. The position is initially for 2 years, with the possibility of being extended for 1 additional year following an evaluation of the project’s progress by the funding agency.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Potential candidates are strongly encouraged to contact Simon Garnier (&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:garnier@njit.edu&quot;&gt;garnier@njit.edu&lt;/a&gt;) to discuss the details of the project and learn more about the position. Applications will be reviewed as they are received. The application period will be open until filled.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;profile&quot;&gt;Profile&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;We are seeking candidates with the following profile:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;A strong interest in conducting collaborative research on the topic described above. Previous research experience on this topic is not required.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Experience with and/or strong desire for working in an interdisciplinary environment.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Knowledge and experience in the modeling and analysis of collective behaviors and/or complex systems.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Knowledge and experience in using modern statistical tools (e.g. GLMMs), and/or machine learning techniques (e.g. ANNs, classifiers), and/or agent-based modeling methods, and/or mathematical modeling approaches.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Knowledge and experience in programming (typical languages used in the lab are R, C++, Python, Julia, Matlab, Mathematica).&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Knowledge and experience in working with ant colonies or other social species are not required, but an interest in participating in the experimental portion of the project is preferred.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;essential-functions&quot;&gt;Essential functions&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The successful candidate will be expected to fulfill the following essential functions:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Lead with the PI the analysis and modeling portion of the project, in collaboration with other lab members who will focus on the experimental portion.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Contribute to or lead lab publications, conference submissions, as well as grant proposals.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Act as a mentor to diverse and ambitious students in the lab, as well as collaborate effectively with colleagues and support staff.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Through mentorship and strategic planning with the PI, develop additional skills and experience valuable to long-term career goals.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;While the functions of the successful candidate will be primarily focused on the goals of the DARPA-funded research project, there will be opportunities to develop independent projects as well as participate in other ongoing lab initiatives.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;mentoring&quot;&gt;Mentoring&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The successful candidate will receive direct guidance in mentoring students, the development of new scientific skillsets, and career planning. In addition, funding is available to attend development workshops and conferences. Part of the project planning will include a roadmap for generating products that correspond with the candidate’s long-term career goals.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;the-lab&quot;&gt;The lab&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The SwarmLab is an interdisciplinary research lab that studies the mechanisms underlying the coordination of large animal groups, such as ant colonies or human crowds, and their applications to complex problems such the organization of pedestrian traffic or the control of robotic swarms. We study how information is exchanged and transformed during interactions between the members of a group, and how this can lead to the emergence of successful or catastrophic group behaviors.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;the-department&quot;&gt;The department&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The lab is part of the Federated Department of Biological Sciences, which spans Rutgers University–Newark and NJIT. Located in NJIT’s urban campus in Newark, the lab is part of a vibrant and active research department, with strengths in ecology, systematics, animal behavior, functional morphology, as well as cellular and neurobiology. In addition, NJIT has strong research groups in engineering, computer science, and mathematics, and is situated in the very academically-dense New York City metro area, with universities like Columbia, NYU, CUNY, Rockefeller, Princeton, and more within an hour range.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&quot;application-material&quot;&gt;Application material&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Please send a cover letter, a CV including contact information for 3 references (the references will be contacted directly by us if necessary), and the link to your Google Scholar page. All material should be addressed to &lt;a href=&quot;jobs@theswarmlab.com&quot;&gt;jobs@theswarmlab.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        <pubDate>Thu, 06 Jun 2019 00:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
        <link>http://localhost:4000/blog/2019/06/06/postdoc-position/</link>
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        <title>The SwarmLab at the World Science Festival</title>
        <description>&lt;p&gt;On June 1, Simon Garnier will take part in the following 3 events at the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.worldsciencefestival.com&quot;&gt;World Science Festival&lt;/a&gt; held in New York City.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ol&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;
    &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cool Jobs -&lt;/strong&gt; “Meet the coolest group of scientists with the most fascinating jobs on the planet. You’ll hear from an engineer who studies geckos to find an adhesive that can hold tons of material to the wall, a biologist who figured out why tiny brained ants travel efficiently while big-brained humans get stuck in traffic jams, and a concert-trained pianist who became a scientist to learn why some music makes you dance and other music makes you cry. They’ll tell you first hand about their spectacular journeys to figure out how the world works and much more. Join us to start your own quest to find a Cool Science Job.” &lt;em&gt;Saturday, June 1, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM, NYU Skirball Center.&lt;/em&gt; Info and tickets at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.worldsciencefestival.com/programs/cool-jobs-4/&quot;&gt;https://www.worldsciencefestival.com/programs/cool-jobs-4/&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;
    &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rethinking Thinking: How Intelligent Are Other Animals? -&lt;/strong&gt; “Intelligence was once thought to be uniquely human. But researchers have discovered astonishing cognitive abilities in many other species—not just our close cousins like chimps, or fellow mammals like dolphins—but also crows, parrots, and even octopuses. If we consider the intelligence of swarms, we must add bees, termites, and ants to the list of super smart creatures. Join the scientists who study smarts as we ask: What is intelligence? Why do some species get an extra dose? And just how special are humans, really?” &lt;em&gt;Saturday, June 1, 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM, NYU Skirball Center.&lt;/em&gt; Info and tickets at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.worldsciencefestival.com/programs/rethinking-thinking-how-intelligent-are-other-animals/&quot;&gt;https://www.worldsciencefestival.com/programs/rethinking-thinking-how-intelligent-are-other-animals/&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;
    &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intelligence Without Brains -&lt;/strong&gt; “How much brain do you need to be smart? Bees and ants perform marvels as colonies, though each insect has barely any brain. And plants—with no brain at all—exhibit behaviors that, by any definition, count as intelligent. Brace yourself for a mind-bending exploration of plants that learn new behaviors and warn their brainless fellows of danger; vines that compete with each other; molds that solve puzzles; and trees that communicate and cooperate through a ‘wood-wide web’ of microscopic mycological fibers. Perhaps the real question is, are we smart enough to appreciate the vast range of intelligence that surrounds us?” &lt;em&gt;Saturday, June 1, 8:00 PM - 9:30 PM, NYU Global Center, Grand Hall.&lt;/em&gt; Info and tickets at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.worldsciencefestival.com/programs/intelligence-without-brains/&quot;&gt;https://www.worldsciencefestival.com/programs/intelligence-without-brains/&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;
</description>
        <pubDate>Wed, 29 May 2019 00:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
        <link>http://localhost:4000/blog/2019/05/29/world-science-festival/</link>
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        <title>Feature in The New York Times</title>
        <description>&lt;p&gt;The SwarmLab was featured today in a New York Times article by &lt;a href=&quot;https://joshuasokol.com/&quot;&gt;Joshua Sokol&lt;/a&gt; discussing the science fiction myth that disabling the “queen” of a swarm will immediately lead its collapse (it doesn’t!). You can read it all in &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/14/science/hives-queens-science-fiction.html&quot;&gt;“Striking Down the Queen Won’t Save You From the Swarm”&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        <pubDate>Tue, 14 May 2019 00:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
        <link>http://localhost:4000/blog/2019/05/14/new-york-times/</link>
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        <title>New publication - &quot;Contact Calls Facilitate Group Contraction in Free-ranging Goats (&lt;i&gt;Capra aegagrus hircus&lt;/i&gt;)&quot;</title>
        <description>&lt;p&gt;The SwarmLab is happy to announce the publication of: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2019.00073/&quot;&gt;O’Bryan, L., Abaid, N., Nakayama, S., Dey, T., King, A., Cowlishaw, G., et al. (2019). Contact Calls Facilitate Group Contraction in Free-ranging Goats (Capra aegagrus hircus). Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 7, 73. doi:10.3389/fevo.2019.00073&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Abstract:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Many social animal species produce vocalizations believed to facilitate group contraction when one or more group members have become distant. However, the mechanisms underlying this function remain unclear for many species. We examined this question with data on a semi-free ranging group of 16 adult domesticated goats (&lt;em&gt;Capra aegagrus hircus&lt;/em&gt;) inhabiting Tsaobis Nature Park, Namibia. All goats wore dataloggers consisting of a GPS and audio recorder for 5-6 hours per day for 10 days, providing continuous data on their geolocations and vocal communication. We found that callers were farther from the group centroid than expected by chance and that call production was associated with the cessation of group expansion and subsequent group contraction. We did not find strong evidence for antiphonal call exchange between distant and core group members. Rather, we found that (i) call production by distant group members is associated with a significant reduction of group movement away from the caller, and (ii) call production by core group members is associated with greater, though not significantly greater, group movement towards the caller. These findings suggest that calls may be used by distant, and potentially core, group members to facilitate the contraction of group spread. Results from our study clarify the mechanisms through which social animals can regulate collective movement behavior and the specific role that vocalizations play in this process.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        <pubDate>Tue, 19 Mar 2019 00:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
        <link>http://localhost:4000/blog/2019/03/19/new-publication/</link>
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        <title>New publication - &quot;Information Transfer During Food Choice in the Slime Mold &lt;i&gt;Physarum polycephalum&lt;/i&gt;&quot;</title>
        <description>&lt;p&gt;The SwarmLab is happy to announce the publication of: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2019.00067/&quot;&gt;Ray, S., Valentini, G., Shah, P., Haque, A., Reid, C., Weber, G., et al. (2019). Information Transfer During Food Choice in the Slime Mold Physarum polycephalum. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 7, 67. doi:10.3389/fevo.2019.00067&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This paper is a first publication for Subash, Purva and Abid. Many congratulations to them!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Abstract:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Throughout evolution, living systems have developed mechanisms to make adaptive decisions in the face of complex and changing environmental conditions. Most organisms make such decisions despite lacking a neural architecture. This is the case of the acellular slime mold &lt;em&gt;Physarum polycephalum&lt;/em&gt; that has demonstrated remarkable information processing and problem-solving abilities. Previous studies suggest that the membrane of &lt;em&gt;P. polycephalum&lt;/em&gt; plays an important role in integrating and processing information leading to the selection of a resource to exploit. The cyclical contraction-relaxation pattern of the membrane changes with the local quality of the environment, and individual contractile regions within a &lt;em&gt;P. polycephalum&lt;/em&gt; can entrain neighboring regions, providing a potential mechanism for information processing and propagation. In this study, we use an information-theoretic tool, transfer entropy, to study the flow of information in single tubule segments of &lt;em&gt;P. polycephalum&lt;/em&gt; in a binary choice between two food sources. We test &lt;em&gt;P. polycephalum&lt;/em&gt; tubules in two food choice conditions, where the two available options are either symmetric in their nutrient concentrations or with one more concentrated in nutrients than the other (i.e., asymmetric). We measure the contractile pattern of the &lt;em&gt;P. polycephalum&lt;/em&gt; membrane and use these data to explore the direction and amount of information transfer along the tubule as a function of the cell’s final decision. We find that the direction of information transfer is different in the two experimental conditions, and the amount of information transferred is inversely proportional to the distance between different contractile regions. Our results show that regions playing a leading role in information transfer changes with the decision-making challenges faced by &lt;em&gt;P. polycephalum&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
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        <pubDate>Thu, 14 Mar 2019 00:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
        <link>http://localhost:4000/blog/2019/03/14/new-publication2/</link>
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