Newsgroups: comp.ai.alife
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!satisfied.apocalypse.org!news.mathworks.com!uunet!psinntp!vivitech.com!bpolant
From: bpolant@vivitech.com (Bradley Polant - Software Engineering)
Subject: Re: best A-life phd programs
Message-ID: <1995Mar31.183954.24829@vivitech.com>
Organization: Vivid Technologies Inc.
References: <3l21qa$6de@elaine6.Stanford.EDU> <1995Mar28.162827.1653@vivitech.com> <3lapu7$br0@gap.cco.caltech.edu>
Date: Fri, 31 Mar 1995 18:39:54 GMT
Lines: 47

In article <3lapu7$br0@gap.cco.caltech.edu> brown@altair.krl.caltech.edu (C. Titus Brown) writes:
>In article <1995Mar28.162827.1653@vivitech.com>,
>Bradley Polant - Software Engineering <bpolant@vivitech.com> wrote:
>>In article <3l21qa$6de@elaine6.Stanford.EDU> kenton@leland.Stanford.EDU (Kenton K. Yee) writes:
>>>
>>>I'm thinking about doing a phd thesis in a-life.  What
>>>are the best PhD programs in the country to apply to?  
>>Hard to say.  If there is a particular researcher you are interested in working
>>for, write him.  There are no programs per-say.
>
>This isn't strictly true, as I recently found out.  There are at least two
>programs that I know of; one is at the University of New Mexico, where
>(among others) Stephanie Forrest works.  A student of hers, Terry Jones,
>recently got a PhD there, and I get the impression that there's a real
>group there.
>
>The other group is under Chuck Taylor, at UCLA; there's also a whole group
>there under the CSEOL (Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of
>Life), but I'm not sure where they are as far as PhDs are concerned.
>
>A few more guesses: U Michigan (?), where John Holland is; Stanford, under
>Koza; UC San Diego, under (among others?) Rik Belew; Mike Dyer (also at
>UCLA, in the CS dept) is interested in memetics...
Exactly.  If you know of a researcher you want to work for, ask them.
  But there are no AL programs like there would be for other AI except as a
subset.  Frankly, I like AL, I just wouldn't bother if I were you.
BP

>
>Now that I've gone to the trouble of typing all this out, if anyone has
>any further corrections please post them so I can get this thing into the
>FAQ...
>
>>>How is the A-life job market for phds?  
>>  0. Zero.
>>  It would be great to say other wise, but it is not true.
>
>However, if you can combine your interest in complex adaptive systems with
>something "useful" (or perceived as useful, of course) it's easy enough
>to get a job, since studying these things provides sometimes novel outlooks
>on other problems.
>
>
>-- 
>Titus Brown, brown@krl.caltech.edu.


