RIT’s John Wiley Jones Distinguished Lecture Will Explore ‘The Internet, Epidemics and Kevin Bacon: The Science of Networks’

Physicist Mark Newman will visit Rochester Institute of Technology later this month to give the College of Science’s annual John Wiley Jones Distinguished Lecture. Newman will present “The Internet, Epidemics and Kevin Bacon: The Science of Networks” at 7 p.m. Monday, April 30, in the B. Thomas Golisano College auditorium.

Newman is an associate professor of physics and complex systems at University of Michigan. His research focuses on social networks, network epidemiology and computer algorithms for network analysis. His work in networks has applications in the sciences as well as psychology, political science and marketing.

“Mark Newman’s research into networks dovetails very well with the rumor research that Nick DiFonzo, David Ross (both RIT colleagues) and I are doing,” says Bernard Brooks, assistant head of research programs in RIT’s School of Mathematical Sciences. “As well, social network analysis is important in corporate structure and organizational behavior. Nick, David and I are studying how social network structure affects rumor flow through a population.”

The late John Wiley Jones was founder and chairman of the board of Jones Chemical Inc. in Caledonia and an avid proponent of science education. The annual lecture series was established in 1974.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call Dale Cenzi at 475-5774.