“What it means to be an expert…is more exciting if it’s inclusive.” An interview with Nina Fefferman.

Description

Nina Fefferman is a professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in the departments of Mathematics and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, where she is also the director of the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis. In her varied work she develops mathematical tools to study systems and behavior, including the evolution of social insects, cybersecurity on the internet, stabilizing supply chains, and the self-organization of behaviors in social animals that have infectious diseases. Recently she sat down with us to talk about her career journey (the typical and atypical parts); the ways her dyslexia has affected her career path; the importance of bringing in and welcoming diverse perspectives in science; and how small math errors in modeling can accidentally “doom…the entire world to constant gastrointestinal distress on the surface of the planet Venus.”

Participants

• Jason Rodriguez
  
• Nina Fefferman
  
• AGU Narratives
  

Interview By

• AGU Narratives