Simple Models of Synchronization
Professor Steven Strogatz, Susan and Barton Winokur Distinguished Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and Mathematics at Cornell University
Tuesday, December 9, 2025 at 3:30 p.m. (Light refreshments at 3:00 p.m.)
Prince George's Room, Stamp Student Union Building, University of Maryland College Park
3972 Campus Drive, College Park, MD 20742
Abstract: At this very moment, your heart is beating thanks to thousands of pacemaker cells in your sinoatrial node, all firing in near-perfect unison. Similar acts of spontaneous synchronization appear throughout nature—in fireflies flashing in unison, neurons firing together, and even in networks of pendulum clocks or metronomes. Simplified mathematical models of these self-synchronizing systems have sparked new insights in nonlinear dynamics, often yielding surprising applications far beyond their biological roots. In this talk, Prof. Strogatz will explore two case studies: (1) Charlie Peskin’s influential model of cardiac pacemaker cells, which inspired advances in communications and electrical engineering; and (2) recent progress and open questions on how the structure of a Kuramoto oscillator network influences its ability to synchronize.
Biography: Steven Strogatz is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Applied Mathematics at Cornell University. After graduating summa cum laude in mathematics from Princeton in 1980, Strogatz studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a Marshall Scholar. He did his doctoral work in applied mathematics at Harvard, followed by a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard and Boston University. From 1989 to 1994, Strogatz taught in the Department of Mathematics at MIT. He joined the Cornell faculty in 1994. Dr. Strogatz has broad research interests, including a variety of problems in mathematical biology, nonlinear dynamics and chaos applied to physics, engineering, and biology, and even broader topics such as the role of crowd synchronization in the wobbling of London’s Millennium Bridge on its opening day, and the dynamics of structural balance in social systems. Perhaps his best-known research contribution is his 1998 Nature paper on "small-world" networks, co-authored with his former student Duncan Watts. Dr. Strogatz has received numerous awards for his research, teaching, and public communication, including the Communications Award from the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics (2007), a lifetime achievement award for the communication of mathematics to the general public; the AAAS Public Engagement with Science Award (2013), the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science (2015), which honors "the scientist as poet" and the SIAM George Pólya Prize for Mathematical Exposition (2019). Dr. Strogatz is a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (2009), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2012), the American Physical Society (2014), and the American Mathematical Society (2016). His 2004 TED lecture “The Science of Sync” has almost 700,000 views and has been translated into 20 languages. He is the author of Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos (1994), Sync (2003), The Calculus of Friendship (2009), and The Joy of x (2012). His most recent book, Infinite Powers (2019), is a New York Times Best Seller.
Paint Branch is a 14-mile stream that brings water from small streams and tributaries throughout the region, flowing south through our campus on its way to the Anacostia River. Many of us pass it by car, bicycle, or on foot each day on our way to and from work. Like the Paint Branch, we anticipate that this new lectureship will serve as a confluence that draws together the many talented and active researchers, faculty, and students in applied physics in our community and will remind us of our common goals and principles.
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