Math models Mind

If a biologist were asked for a single word that would appropriately point to the essence and substance of biology, the word might be Life. It stands for the essential unity of that subject despite the enormous range of different interests of biologists—from proteins to the behavior of elephants to medical applications. Is there an analogous ’unifying anchor’ for Mathematics? Is Mathematics unified and does it make sense to talk of the beauty of mathematics? Mathematical language is one unifying force, and the subject is laced with analogies linking radically different intuitions, the classical example being algebra and geometry. More modern syntheses bring together a vast range of mathematical sensibilities, accomplishments, truths, and applications. Might one argue that these analogies augment the sense of beauty that (some) people feel when they engage in mathematical ideas?

Participants

Larry Amsel

Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Dr. Amsel, a clinical and research psychiatrist, is on the faculty of Columbia University. Dr. Amsel has a mathematics background, and was an early proponent of using decision science, game theory and Behavioral Economics in psychiatric research. In 2003, he organized the first American Psychiatric Association (APA) symposium on the applications of Game Theory to... read more! »

Cheryl Corcoran

Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Program Leader in Psychosis Risk, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Cheryl Corcoran is Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Program Leader in Psychosis Risk at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Together with Dr. Guillermo Cecchi of IBM, she has identified patterns of language that precede onset of psychosis, including reduction in coherence and complexity. They are interested in studying discourse and believe psychiatry... read more! »

Andrew Gerber

Medical Director/CEO, the Austen Riggs Center
Associate Clinical Professor in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center in New York City

Andrew J. Gerber is the Medical Director/CEO of the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and an Associate Clinical Professor in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. Dr. Gerber completed his PhD in Psychology at the Anna Freud Centre and University College London where he... read more! »

Kenneth Miller

Professor of Neuroscience, Department of Physiology and Director, Center for Theoretical Biology, Columbia University

Kenneth Miller is the Peter Taylor Professor of Neuroscience, co-Director of the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, and co-Director of the Neurobiology and Behavior Graduate Program at Columbia University. He received his B.A. from Reed College, his M.S. and Ph.D. (with distinction) from Stanford University, and completed his postdoctoral work at UCSF and Caltech. He is... read more! »

John Murray

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Neuroscience, and Physics, Yale University School of Medicine

is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Neuroscience, and Physics at Yale University School of Medicine, where he directs a research program in computational neuroscience with a focus on computational models of neuropsychiatric disorders. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from Yale University, and was a postdoctoral researcher at New York University.

Aaditya Rangan

Associate Professor, Mathematics, New York University

Aaditya Rangan is an Associate Professor in the mathematics department at New York University. He received his B.A. from Dartmouth College, his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, and completed his postdoctoral work at NYU. His research has focused for many years on computational and theoretical models of sensory processing, particularly vision and... read more! »

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