Series: SFI Studies in the Sciences of Complexity Pub. Date: July 2004 Publisher: Oxford University Press Cloth ISBN 0195165322 List Price $65.00 Paper ISBN 0195165330 List Price $35.00 Order Info More Info: Back of Book Info Table of Contents Introduction Series Info Return to book list

In a world of uncertainty, adversity, and rapid change, it might be thought that failure of systems, whether natural or designed, should prove the rule rather than the exception. And yet we are surrounded by examples of phenomena on all scales that we instinctively label as robust to failure, whether because of the agility with which they have responded to changing circumstances, or because of their resilience in the face of internal or external attack, or merely because they have proved so long-lived. Robustness is a term that captures our intuitive sense of one of the key determinants of long-term success or failure, but what do we mean by robustness, and what specific features of a phenomenon contribute to its robustness or fragility?

About the Editor

Erica Jen received her Ph.D. in applied mathematics in 1981 from SUNY at Stony Brook, and then was charmed into the study of nonlinear dynamics by her tenure as the first postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Nonlinear Studies at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Her subsequent research bounced around complex systems and eventually settled on the structure of mathematical systems known as cellular automata. After several years as Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Santa Fe Institute, she became interested in the topic of robustness as relevant to phenomena in the natural, engineering, and social systems.