Flow Networks in Flux

  • Speaker
  • Eleni Katifori, Ph.D.Standing Faculty, Associate Professor, University of Pennsylvania
Date & Time


About Presidential Lectures

Presidential Lectures are free public colloquia centered on four main themes: Biology, Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science, and Neuroscience and Autism Science. These curated, high-level scientific talks feature leading scientists and mathematicians and are intended to foster discourse and drive discovery among the broader NYC-area research community. We invite those interested in the topic to join us for this weekly lecture series.
Video Thumbnail

By clicking to watch this video, you agree to our privacy policy.

Transport webs span a broad range of length scales, from microns in the human microcirculation to kilometers in river networks. The structure of all these networks is mutable and subject to either gradual, irreversible change, as in the case of river evolution in geological timescales, or reversible change, as in the case of the adaptation of human circulation to a faster heart rate in mere seconds. These changes are frequently brought about by flow that runs through channels, providing an active feedback between the currents and the channel conductances. As these networked systems are strongly coupled via the flow — a local disturbance in the network will be “felt” in a broad neighborhood around the site — dynamical adaptation allows the networks to self-organize and exhibit rich behaviors that are sometimes counterintuitive.

In this talk, Eleni Katifori will explore some of this rich phenomenology and, among other questions, try to understand how tides shape river deltas, explain how loopiness emerges in leaf vasculature and calculate the price of having a pulse.

To attend this in-person event, you will need to register in advance and provide:

Acceptable proof of vaccination (vaccine card/certificate, a copy or photo of vaccine card/certificate or electronic NYS Excelsior Pass or NJ Docket Pass)
Photo ID
Eventbrite ticket confirmation email with QR code
Simons Foundation Health Screening Questionnaire approval email
Entrance will not be granted without this documentation.
On-site registration will not be permitted. Walk-in entry will be denied.

About the Speaker

Katifori obtained her Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University, followed by a fellowship at the Center for Studies in Physics and Biology at Rockefeller University in New York. In 2012, she started a position as an independent group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Goettingen, and in 2015 she joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania. Katifori is a recipient of a Burroughs Wellcome Career Award at the Scientific Interface, an NSF Career Award, the APS DSOFT Early Career Award and is a Simons Investigator in the Mathematical Modelling of Living Systems. Her research interests are primarily theoretical and span broad areas, such as soft matter physics with a focus on biologically inspired physics, biological transport networks and thin shell elasticity.

Advancing Research in Basic Science and MathematicsSubscribe to our newsletters to receive news & updates