The International Neural Network Society (INNS) is honoring Kalamazoo College Luce Professor of Complex Systems Studies Péter Érdi with a promotion to its College of Fellows, providing him with the highest grade of membership in the organization and recognition of his exceptional achievements in the field of neural networks.
Artificial neural networks are a set of algorithms, inspired by functions found in the human brain, that recognize patterns. Such systems learn to perform tasks by considering examples through processes such as image recognition. The networks might learn about those images to identify similar images, then label them and organize them. The INNS gathers global experts interested in neural networks as they seek to develop new and more effective forms of machine intelligence. Fellows of the society are elected by the INNS Board of Governors.
The International Neural Network Society is honoring Luce Professor of Complex Systems Studies Péter Érdi by naming him to its College of Fellows.
“I have received the two most significant recognitions of my life this year, and they come from two separate communities,” Érdi said. “The Interdisciplinary Fund for Complex Systems Studies was established by my former students, and I have been voted to be a Fellow by my peers from the neural network community. I am not sure I deserved it since the majority of the fellows are the giant pioneers of the field. I mention just three names: Shun-ichi Amari, Stephen Grossberg and the late Teuvo Kohonen.”
Kalamazoo College Henry Luce Professor of Complex Systems Péter Érdi will release a new book, Feedback: How to Destroy or Save the World, on October 15. The publication will share a non-technical and intellectual journey that analyzes how feedback control can lead down a narrow path that separates reasonable growth from existential risk.
Érdi said a forward in the book by Michael Arbib, a computational neuroscientist and pioneer of brain theory, shows how such reactions to feedback work by considering a couple who share a double bed and an electric blanket that has separate heating elements.
“Imagine if, by some happenstance, the controls get mixed,” the forward says. “Here, when each person thinks they are controlling their half of the blanket they are instead controlling the other. When one person is feeling cold, they use the control on their side of the bed to turn up the heat. But, unfortunately, it is the heat on the other side. Their companion gets too hot and reaches for their control only to making the bed even colder for the first person, who responds by turning up the heat on the other’s side even more.”
Arbib said even though such a case reflects positive feedback, it has a negative effect because it increases a problem at hand. Such an example can be extended to more interpersonal relationships as some might respond to criticism with soothing words while others get angry to destroy or save a relationship.
According to reviews, the book has applications for a variety of people across generations including young people growing up in a world where everything seems to be falling apart; people in their 30s and 40s who are thinking about how to live a fulfilling life; readers in their 50s and 60s, who are thinking back on life; and Baby Boomers reflecting on their past successes and failures.
Érdi was hired at K in 2002 when the College received a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. Since, he has received the Florence J. Lucasse Fellowship for Excellence in Scholarship, the highest award bestowed by K’s faculty, which honors the recipient’s contributions in creative work, research and publication.
Érdi has written dozens of publications, including two other books since 2019, Ranking: The Hidden Rules of the Social Game We All Play and Repair: When and How to Improve Broken Objects, Ourselves and Our Society, which have received international acclaim. He also was honored by five alumni from the Class of 2009 this year when they initiated the Interdisciplinary Fund for Complex Systems Studies in his name.
Feedback: How to Destroy or Save the World is available for preorder through Amazon.
Henry Luce Professor of Complex Systems Péter Érdi will release a new book, “Feedback: How to Destroy or Save the World,” on October 15.
Henry Luce Professor of Complex Systems Studies Péter Érdi is the author of a new book, “Feedback: How to Destroy or Save the World.”
A longtime Kalamazoo College professor with connections around the world is being honored by five alumni from the Class of 2009 with a fund in his name that will help support a field of study for years to come.
Péter Erdi was hired as the Henry Luce Professor of Complex Systems Studies in 2002 when the College received a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. K’s efforts to attain the grant were driven by a small but vocal group of students who were mathematically skilled and interested in applying their skills to social problems through quantitative models. Ever since, Erdi has influenced many deeply curious alumni, including Brad Flaugher, Jerrod Howlett, Trevor Jones, Elliot Paquette and Griffin Drutchas, who are the five benefactors initiating the Interdisciplinary Fund for Complex Systems Studies in Erdi’s name.
Flaugher, who works in software development for startup companies, double majored in computer science and economics at K. He met Erdi in his first year on campus when he took Computational Neuroscience—a study of the mathematical models, computational algorithms and simulation methods that contribute to an understanding of neural mechanisms—before taking all the classes Erdi offered.
“There were so few of us in his classes—I think in my year we had only three or four computer science majors—that he took all of us under his wing,” Flaugher said. “He got us jobs in his lab with funding. All of us except Jerrod had gone to Hungary to work with him at his lab in Budapest. All of us were studying artificial intelligence back in 2006 and 2007, which was amazing. We were super close to him. He wrote all of us recommendation letters for graduate school. He did everything he could for us and taught us the hottest topic in the world 10 years before we needed it.”
Flaugher was attending an event in Philadelphia last March when President Jorge G. Gonzalez shared examples of how alumni were endowing funds in honor of their favorite or most influential professors. That led Flaugher to rally support from his classmates and recognize Erdi in complex systems studies.
“I talk to Dr. Erdi pretty regularly and I want to keep the interdisciplinary spirit of what he does alive,” Flaugher said. “I think it’s a great fit for a liberal arts institution, and when I was at K, I got not only job skills thanks to him, I got jobs-of-the-future skills.”
Henry Luce Professor of Complex Systems Péter Erdi presented at the Brain Bar, a technology and music conference in Budapest, while wearing a T-shirt that says “OK, Boomer” as a way to connect with a younger audience. He is being honored by five alumni from the Class of 2009 with a fund for Kalamazoo College in his name.
Erdi receives applause from Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez while presenting his lecture for receiving the 2018 Florence J. Lucasse Fellowship for Excellence in Scholarship.
Erdi received the 2018 Florence J. Lucasse Fellowship for Excellence in Scholarship, the highest award bestowed by K’s faculty, which honors the recipient’s contributions in creative work, research and publication. He has dozens of publications from his time at K, including two books since 2019, Ranking: The Hidden Rules of the Social Game We All Play and Repair: When and How to Improve Broken Objects, Ourselves and Our Society, which have received international acclaim. He also recently finished another book due out soon, Feedback Control: How to Destroy or Save the World and has served the University of Michigan as a visiting professor and scholar.
Complex systems studies can be described as an examination of how a system’s parts contribute to its collective behaviors, and how the system interacts and forms relationships with its environment. Erdi added that complex systems theory finds connections among seemingly very different phenomena. For example:
The onset of epilepsy, an earthquake eruption and a stock market crash are different occurrences, but all three are abrupt, extreme events. Complex systems theory looks at the predictability of these events, and interestingly, there are algorithms for predicting the probability of earthquakes that also can be adopted by brokers to estimate stock prices.
When we look at the spreading of viruses, ideas and opinions, we can examine all three through similar mathematical models.
Network theory offers methods that can help us understand the structure and dynamics of topics as varied as the human brain, interacting social groups, food chains in specific ecosystems, financial networks and more.
With a program such as complex systems studies being rare at a small college, it has been difficult to efficiently increase its offerings over the years; Erdi remains the program’s sole representative at K despite its interdisciplinary nature, with applications in fields such as physics, computer science and psychology. The fund in Erdi’s name, however—thanks to Flaugher, Drutchas, Jones, Howlett and Paquette getting it off the ground—will ensure the professor’s legacy lives on after his retirement.
Despite the deeply analytical nature of his field, Erdi is also known for his sense of humor. For example, in September 2022, when he spoke at the Brain Bar, a technology and music conference in Budapest, he donned a red T-shirt with the words “OK, Boomer” on it while presenting to and connecting with a young audience. Also, when he was recently asked how he would like to be remembered at K in years after his retirement, he said: “Péter was an interesting character on the campus with his terrible ‘Hunglish’ accent. It looks like he managed to motivate some students.”
In all sincerity, however, Erdi was grateful to hear from Flaugher and his fellow alumni regarding the Interdisciplinary Fund for Complex Systems Studies.
“I knew that I had influenced several students intellectually,” he said. “Maybe five per year is a good estimation, so about a hundred may positively remember my name when they reflect on their college education. Still, the mail from Brad, and then the correspondence with Elliot, Griffin, Jerrod and Trevor, and the establishment of the Fund were wonderful surprises, and I am humbled to have this Fund while I am still active.”
Lucasse Fellowship for Excellence in Scholarship winner Peter Erdi
Kalamazoo College announced Monday that Peter Erdi, the Luce Professor of Complex Systems Studies at K, will receive the 2018 Florence J. Lucasse Fellowship for Excellence in Scholarship. It is the highest award bestowed by the Kalamazoo College faculty, and it honors the recipient’s contributions in creative work, research and publication.
Erdi has been a prolific researcher with more than 40 publications and two books published since joining Kalamazoo College. In that time, he has given more than 60 invited lectures across the world. He is also serving as the editor-in-chief of Cognitive Systems Research and as a vice president of the International Neural Network Society.
Support for his research program has come from varied sources such as collaborative National Science Foundation awards, NASA, the Hungarian National Research Council, Pharmacia, Pfizer and the European Integrated Project grant program. He has also helped to establish a popular study abroad program in his native homeland of Budapest, Hungary, where he holds a research professor position at the Wigner Research Centre for Physics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
