Summary Report on Course #2 - Complexity in Evolutionary Biology: Genetic Algorithms, Cellular Automata and Adaptive Landscapes - in the series of Short Courses on the Mathematics of Biological Complexity Supported by National Institutes of Health Award GM59924-01 The University of Tennessee Conference Center October 1-4, 2000 October 21, 2000 Course Director: Sergey Gavrilets, University of Tennessee Lecturers: Lee Altenberg, University of Hawaii at Manoa Janko Gravner, University of California, Davis This course included 20 lectures and 6 computer lab sessions devoted to different mathematical and computational models and methods used in studying complex biological systems. Topics were covered rapidly with emphasis on a conceptual framework for understanding applications. The target audience were individuals with little formal mathematics training beyond calculus. A variety of different topics were covered (see the complete schedule attached at the end of this message). Many of the lecture and lab materials are available at http://www.tiem.utk.edu/~courses/course2. There were a total of 41 participants, including the three lecturers. Participants educational backgrounds: 19 Ph.D.-level scientists (10 faculty members, 3 post-doctoral associates at universities, and 6 staff members from various organizations including DuPont, the Smithsonian, ORNL and NIST), 2 M.D., 19 graduate students and 1 undergraduate student. The faculty in attendance were mostly from life science departments, and all but one graduate and undergraduate students in attendance are pursuing degrees in a variety of life science disciplines. The 6 computer labs associated with the course used the software package Mathematica as well as programs developed by the lecturers and software packages publicly available on the web. The labs included simulation of stochastic cellular automata, genetic algorithms and artificial life systems. All activities were held in the facilities of the UT Conference Center and all participants were provided meals together in order to foster interactions outside of the formal lectures and labs. An anonymous evaluation was conducted immediately following the conclusion of the course, with 26 respondents. The questions and a summary of responses follows. 1. Was this worth attending - if you knew before attending what you know now about the course topics and coverage, would you have chosen to attend? Yes 26 No 0 2. Did the topic coverage meet your expectations? Yes 19 No 0 Partially 7 If you answered other than Yes, what topics did you expect to be covered that were not? More examples of real systems, more examples of GA applications 3. What topics covered were of most interest to you? Every topic was mentioned. 4. Were the computer labs generally worth the time or would you have preferred the time be spent on: Worth the time 17 Would have preferred the time spent on: 1. Workshops sessions based upon problems brought by participants 6 2. More lectures or longer lectures 1 3. Roundtable discussion sessions 5 4. Other (please state) 2 5. The meals were: Excellent 17 Good 8 Fair 1 Poor 0 6. The hotel was: Excellent 11 Good 11 Fair 0 Poor 0 Schedule Sunday, October 1, 2000 8:30- 9:20 Registration and Continental Breakfast 9:20- 9:30 L.Gross and S.Gavrilets - Introduction and objectives 9:30-10:20 S.Gavrilets "Adaptive landscapes: basic ideas and definitions" 10:20-11:10 L.Altenberg "Evolutionary Computation: Overview" 11:10-11:30 Break 11:30-12:20 J.Gravner "Introduction to cellular automata (CA) models" 12:30- 2:00 Lunch UT Conference Center Room 404 2:00- 2:50 S.Gavrilets "Wright's rugged adaptive landscapes" 2:50- 3:40 L.Altenberg "Foundations of Evolutionary Computation I" 3:40- 4:00 Break 4:00- 4:50 J.Gravner "Geometry of simple growth CA" 4:50- 5:40 S. Gavrilets "Fisher's single-peak landscapes and Kimura's flat landscapes" 6:00 Dinner UT Conference Center Room 404 Monday, October 2, 2000 8:00- 8:40 Breakfast 8:40- 9:30 S.Gavrilets "Adaptive landscapes for mating pairs and adaptive landscapes for quantitative characters I" 9:30-10:20 J.Gravner "Growth in random environments" 10:20-10:40 Break 10:40-11:30 L.Altenberg "Foundations of Evolutionary Computation II" 11:30-12:20 J.Gravner "Waves in excitable media and models of epidemics" 12:30- 2:00 Lunch UT Conference Center Room 404 2:00- 2:50 S.Gavrilets "Adaptive landscapes for quantitative characters II" 2:50- 3:40 L.Altenberg Lab session 3:40- 4:00 Break 4:00- 4:50 J.Gravner Lab session 4:50- 5:40 L.Altenberg Lab session 6:00 Dinner UT Conference Center Room 404 7:00 Walk (or drive) to Laurel Theater 7:30 Laurel Theater (Basic steps of contra-dancing) 8:00 Contra-dance with Music by the Atomic City Rhythm Rascals and calling by Charley Harvey of Berea, KY Tuesday, October 3, 2000 8:00- 8:40 Breakfast 8:40- 9:30 S.Gavrilets "Nearly neutral networks and holey adaptive landscapes" 9:30-10:20 L.Altenberg "Genetic Programming and other complex domains" 10:20-10:40 Break 10:40-11:30 J.Gravner "Competition for space: voter and surface tension CA" 11:30-12:20 L.Altenberg "Artificial Life" 12:30- 2:00 Lunch UT Conference Center Room 404 2:00- 2:50 S.Gavrilets "Genetic canalization on holey adaptive landscapes" 2:50- 3:40 J.Gravner Lab session 3:40- 4:00 Break 4:00- 4:50 L.Altenberg Lab session 4:50- 5:40 J.Gravner Lab session 6:00 Dinner UT Conference Center Room 404 Wednesday, October 4, 2000 8:00- 8:40 Breakfast 8:40- 9:30 S.Gavrilets "Speciation on holey adaptive landscapes" 9:30-10:20 J.Gravner "Competition for space: further examples" 10:20-10:40 Break 10:40-11:30 L.Altenberg "The Evolution of Evolvability" 11:30-12:00 S.Gavrilets Wrap-up session & Adjournment 12:00 Lunch UT Conference Center Room 404