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 teaches Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Davis. She also helps lead research for the College of Engineering there. Raissa is also a professor at the Santa Fe Institute. She is known for her work on how complex systems and networks behave. She was recognized as a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2016 and the Network Science Society in 2019 for her important contributions.
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Early Life and Education
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 university and decided to study physics.
She went to the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Later, she earned her advanced degree in theoretical physics. This was in 1999 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). There, she worked with scientists Mehran Kardar and Norman Margolus.
After finishing her studies, she worked at Bell Labs. She also worked at Microsoft Research. She spent time as a visiting researcher in France and at the California Institute of Technology.
Research and Career
Raissa D'Souza joined the University of California, Davis in 2005. She became a full professor there in 2013. Her work focuses on the math of networks. She studies how different processes happen within these networks.
These networks can be found in technology, nature, or even social groups. She looks at how parts of a network interact. This can lead to them organizing themselves.
Understanding Networks
Dr. D'Souza showed that there's a special point in networks. At this point, adding just a few more connections can link a huge part of the network. This idea can be used in many real-world situations. It helps us understand things like how nanotubes work or how social networks grow.
Big connections and working together are key to how complex networks are built. Raissa D'Souza showed that a few connections between separate networks can stop big failures. She has also studied how problems can spread. This includes power outages, stock market crashes, and the spread of social movements.
In 2014, the United States Department of Defense gave her an award. This award helped her study how to predict and control connected networks.
Academic Service and Leadership
Raissa D'Souza is a professor at the Santa Fe Institute. She also works with the Complexity Science Hub Vienna. She has been a Kavli Fellow for the National Academy of Sciences many times. She also served on the World Economic Forum's council for complex systems.
In 2010, she became one of the first members of the Global Young Academy. From 2015 to 2018, she was the President of the Network Science Society.
In 2019, she received the Network Science Society's first Euler Award. This award was for her important work on "explosive percolation." This research helped us understand how networks grow very quickly.
Dr. D'Souza is on the science board for Quanta Magazine. In 2019, she became a lead editor for the American Physical Society journal Physical Review Research. Since August 2020, she has been on the Board of Reviewing Editors for Science magazine.
Awards and Honors
Raissa D'Souza has received many awards and honors, including:
- 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
See also
In Spanish: Raissa D’Souza para niños
