A Message from SFI Vice President for Science
Welcome to 2025, a truly amazing number. 2025 is a perfect square (45*45). The last one was 1936 and the next will be 2116. 2025 is also the square of the sum of the first nine integers: (1+2+3+…9)^2 = 2025. 2025 is also (!) the sum of the cubes of the same integers. The last time that happened was 1296 (first eight) and the next time will be 3025 (first ten). There are many other interesting numerical facts about 2025 and certain dates within it (e.g., Jan. 9 & Sept. 1), but you can figure them out yourselves. Thanks to Jim Kirchner, a former Ph.D. student of external professor John Harte, for sharing!
Our big news for 2025: SFI is hiring! On January 8, we start an open search for two full-time resident faculty positions at any academic level. You’ll have received an email with more information by the time you read this. The search closes March 28, 2025. Please share the information widely, including social media, and encourage strong candidates to apply. This is the beginning of a multi-year hiring process that will continue over the next several years. Our last open faculty search was in 2013, the first year I served as Vice President for Science.
Other hiring: this week and next, we embark on our annual Complexity Postdoctoral Fellow interviews and final selection process. We will make up to four offers for new fellows to join us later in 2025. This is always an intense and stimulating way for the resident researchers to begin the new year and is a key part of bringing early-career researchers and their ideas and expertise to SFI.
The first quarter of 2025 is relatively quiet in terms of science meetings. There is an EPE-ACtioN Workshop February 17-19 on “The Science of Structural Transformation Across Complex Systems: Understanding the Levers of Change in Economic, Social, Technological and Political Systems to Address the Climate Crisis” hosted by Will Tracy, Penny Mealy, and William Hynes (EPE = Emergent Political Economies program funded by the Omidyar Network; ACtioN = Applied Complexity Network). Postdocs are leading six micro working groups from January to March on widely dispersed topics: nervous systems, video games, biofilms, reintroductions, chess, and press-pulse perturbations.
March brings three working groups. On March 12-14, Katrin Schmelz and Sam Bowles host "Effective Public Policy Design When Preferences and Beliefs are Endogenous: Illustrated by Sustainable Climate Policies" funded by the EPE grant. March 17-19, Kyle Harper and Courtney Hofman host “Megafauna Depletion and Holocene Ecological Networks.” The same week, March 17-20, John Krakauer and Melanie Mitchell host “The Nature of Intelligence,” their second in a series of meetings on this topic. There are other meetings in the pipeline for March and beyond; please do get your requests in to sfiscience@santafe.edu as far in advance as possible!
Cheers, Jennifer