Launching new collaboration with Chapman University
We’ve launched a collaboration with Chapman University to explore joint research projects and expand our role mentoring and teaching the next generation of technologists working in the public interest.
Chapman is a private, non-profit research university located in Orange, California. Recently, Chapman’s Schmid College of Science and Technology has launched a new D.Sc. Program in Mathematics, Philosophy, and Physics (MPP). This multidisciplinary training program reflects the holistic approach to technology central to the Topos vision. We further share a common belief that translational work and real world impact is crucial for high quality basic research, and that it is important to work openly to share our knowledge for the benefit of all.
The collaboration between the Topos Institute and Chapman University will primarily unfold through joint initiatives within the Chapman MPP program. Proposals include the organization of joint workshops and seminars and the pursuit of collaborative research projects, providing graduate students at Chapman with invaluable opportunities for engagement with Topos researchers. Topos researchers may contribute to dissertation committees, deliver seminars and lectures, and participate in shaping the scientific agenda of the MPP program.
Each year, many people reach out to ask how they might pursue doctoral studies with our researchers at Topos, or in applied category theory and our topics of research more generally. We’re excited to be helping to create new pathways for training, to continue to grow the community, and to make our research more accessible to the public.
Specific areas of mutual research interest between the Topos Institute and Chapman faculty within the Schmid College of Science and Technology include mathematical modelling of real-world systems (such as epidemiological and engineering systems), the foundational aspects of systems science and systems biology, programming language design employing type theory and its logical underpinnings, and endeavours in AI safety, logic, formal methods, and category theory for computing.
Witnessing these common interests, two recent conferences organised by Chapman and related to the MPP program are Grothendieck, a Multifarious Giant: Mathematics, Logic and Philosophy and Is Philosophy Useful for Science, and/or Vice Versa?.
To launch the collaboration and explore topics of mutual interest, Topos and Chapman scientists met for a joint workshop on May 8th, 2024. Videos of the talks can be found in this YouTube playlist.
