Raissa D'Souza facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Raissa D'Souza
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Portrait from the University of California, Davis, taken in 2024
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| Born | 1969 |
| Alma mater | University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Awards | 2019 Euler Award in Network Science |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics and Computer Science |
| Institutions | University of California, Davis Bell Labs Microsoft Research |
| Academic advisors | Mehran Kardar Norman Margolus |
Raissa M. D'Souza is a brilliant scientist who studies how complex systems work. She is a Professor of Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Davis. She also helps lead research for the College of Engineering there. Raissa D'Souza is known for her work on "network science," which helps us understand how different parts of a system connect and interact. She has been recognized for her important contributions, becoming a Fellow of several major scientific groups, including the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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Raissa D'Souza's Early Life and Studies
When Raissa D'Souza was younger, she had a big decision to make. She could either go to college or move to Paris to become a fashion designer. She chose to go to university. She decided to study physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.
Earning Her Doctoral Degree
Later, she earned her doctoral degree in theoretical physics. This means she studied the ideas and math behind how the universe works. She got her degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1999. While at MIT, she worked with two important scientists, Mehran Kardar and Norman Margolus.
Her First Jobs in Science
After finishing her studies, Raissa D'Souza worked at some famous research places. She worked at Bell Labs, which is known for inventing many important technologies. She also worked at Microsoft Research, where she was part of the "Theory group." She also visited other research centers, like the California Institute of Technology.
Raissa D'Souza's Research and Career
Raissa D'Souza joined the University of California, Davis as a professor in 2005. She became an Associate Professor in 2008 and a Full Professor in 2013. Her main work involves studying the math of networks. She looks at how different things connect and how processes happen within these connections.
Understanding Networks and Connections
These networks can be found everywhere. They can be in technology, like the internet. They can also be in biology, like how cells connect in your body. Or they can be in social systems, like how friends connect on social media. She studies how different parts, called "nodes," interact with each other. These interactions can lead to systems organizing themselves.
How Networks Grow and Change
Raissa D'Souza showed that there's a special point in networks. At this point, adding just a few more connections can make a huge part of the network become connected. This idea can be used to understand many real-world things. For example, it can help explain how tiny tubes called nanotubes connect. It can also help understand how epileptic seizures spread in the brain. Or how social networks grow very quickly.
Preventing Network Failures
Having many connections and working together is key for complex networks. Raissa D'Souza showed that even a few connections between separate networks can stop big problems. These problems are called "cascading failures." She has also studied how these cascading behaviors happen in general. This includes things like power grids failing or crashes in financial markets. It also includes how political movements spread.
Research for the Department of Defense
In 2014, Raissa D'Souza received an important award. It was from the United States Department of Defense. This award helped her research how to predict and control networks that depend on each other. This project lasted for five years, until 2019.
Academic Service and Leadership
Raissa D'Souza is also an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute. She also works with the Complexity Science Hub Vienna. She has been a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences multiple times. She also served on the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council of Complex Systems. In 2010, she became one of the first members of the Global Young Academy.
Leading the Network Science Society
In 2015, Raissa D'Souza was chosen to be the second President of the Network Science Society. She led this group until 2018. In 2019, she received the first-ever Euler Award from the Network Science Society. This award recognized her important work on "explosive percolation." This research helped scientists understand how networks can suddenly become very connected.
Working with Science Magazines
Raissa D'Souza is also on the Scientific Advisory Board of Quanta Magazine. This magazine writes about science and math. In 2019, she became a lead editor for the American Physical Society journal Physical Review Research. Since August 2020, she has been a member of the Board of Reviewing Editors at Science. This is one of the most famous science magazines in the world.
Awards and Honours
Raissa D'Souza has received many awards and honors for her amazing work. Here are some of them:
- 2015 Elected President of the Network Science Society
- 2016 Elected Fellow of the American Physical Society
- 2017 University of California, Davis Outstanding Mid-Career Faculty Research Award
- 2018 ACM Test-of-Time award (for a paper from 2008 that had a lasting impact)
- 2019 Network Science Society Euler Award
- 2019 Elected Fellow of the Network Science Society
- 2022 Outstanding Service Award of the Network Science Society
- 2024 Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
See also
In Spanish: Raissa D'Souza para niños
