Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/94002222605?pwd=RRbUxMchWIWpl8ivt6ODxydwT8ygxk.1

Abstract: Cities are vibrant examples of complex systems, where infrastructure, mobility, communication, and contagion all emerge from decentralized human behavior. In this talk, I’ll show how a physics-based approach, rooted in network theory, scaling laws, and information theory, can reveal unifying principles behind the structure and dynamics of urban life.
We’ll explore how social connectivity explains observed scaling laws in productivity and innovation, and how mobility patterns—measured through mobile phone and GPS data—can inform models of epidemic spread. I’ll introduce the Movement–Interaction–Return (MIR) model, which captures how local motion and interaction drive contagion dynamics, with direct applications to COVID-19 policy. Finally, I’ll discuss entropy-based measures of predictability and information flow in cities. Together, these ideas point to a broader understanding of how order and adaptability arise from movement and interaction in complex environments.

About the Speaker: Prof. Gourab Ghoshal is Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Rochester with joint appointments at the departments of Computer Science and Mathematics. Prior to joining Rochester, he was at Harvard University at the department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and a member of Harvard’s multidisciplinary Origins of Life initiative. Professor Ghoshal got his bachelor’s and master’s degree at the University of London, UK (BS and MSc in theoretical Physics, 2004). He did his doctoral-thesis work at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (PhD in Physics, 2009.  Following his PhD, he was a postdoctoral scientist jointly at Northeastern University and Harvard Medical School as well as a visiting scientist at the Media Lab, MIT. Professor Ghoshal is trained as a Statistical Physicist and works in the field of Complex Systems. His research interests are in the theory and applications of Complex Networks as well as Non-equilibrium Statistical Physics, Computational Social Science, Econophysics, Dynamical Systems and the Origins of Life