I am a Professor of Ecology and Evolution and Associate Faculty in Sociology. I am also the Inaugural Director of the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation and External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute.
My research investigates fundamental processes of biological and social organization and evolution in complex systems, with an emphasis on urban environments.
I create multidisciplinary theory and methods to deal with integrated concepts in these complex systems, often based on network structures and processes of learning and adaptation. My research seeks to explore new data and contexts that allow for quantitative comparisons among population through time and space in order to produce new insights and theory.
My work has contributed significantly to a new sense of excitement and possibility about urban science, unifying urban themes over space and time, and the convergence of ideas and methods for new insights across complex systems more generally.
I teach "Introduction to Urban Sciences" (ENST 24600) and "The Mathematics of Evolution" (BIOS 13141 1) at the University of Chicago.
Imperial College
London, UK
PhD - Theoretical Physics
1996
Using human mobility data to quantify experienced urban inequalities.
Using human mobility data to quantify experienced urban inequalities. Nat Hum Behav. 2025 Apr; 9(4):654-664.
PMID: 39962223
Co-creating the future: participatory cities and digital governance.
Co-creating the future: participatory cities and digital governance. Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci. 2024 Dec 16; 382(2285):20240113.
PMID: 39533906
Recent achievements and conceptual challenges for urban digital twins.
Recent achievements and conceptual challenges for urban digital twins. Nat Comput Sci. 2024 Mar; 4(3):150-153.
PMID: 38532135
Urban growth and the emergent statistics of cities.
Urban growth and the emergent statistics of cities. Sci Adv. 2020 Aug; 6(34).
PMID: 32937357
Urban growth and the emergent statistics of cities.
Urban growth and the emergent statistics of cities. Sci Adv. 2020 Aug; 6(34):eaat8812.
PMID: 32875099
Toward cities without slums: Topology and the spatial evolution of neighborhoods.
Toward cities without slums: Topology and the spatial evolution of neighborhoods. Sci Adv. 2018 08; 4(8):eaar4644.
PMID: 30167459
Urban occupational structures as information networks: The effect on network density of increasing number of occupations.
Urban occupational structures as information networks: The effect on network density of increasing number of occupations. PLoS One. 2018; 13(5):e0196915.
PMID: 29734354
Heterogeneity and scale of sustainable development in cities.
Heterogeneity and scale of sustainable development in cities. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 08 22; 114(34):8963-8968.
PMID: 28461489
Invention as a combinatorial process: evidence from US patents.
Invention as a combinatorial process: evidence from US patents. J R Soc Interface. 2015 May 06; 12(106).
PMID: 25904530
Settlement scaling and increasing returns in an ancient society.
Settlement scaling and increasing returns in an ancient society. Sci Adv. 2015 Feb; 1(1):e1400066.
PMID: 26601129
Member at Large: Social, Political and Economic Sciences
American Association for the Advancement of Science
2018 - 2019
Technology and the Future of Cities
Presidential Committee for the Advancement of Science and Technology
2016
Young Leader
World Cities Summit
2013
Slansky Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow
Los Alamos National Laboratory
2000 - 2001
Director's Postdoctoral Fellow
Los Alamos National Laboratory
1998 - 2000