The modern approach to understanding natural complex systems relies on new mathematical visions and ideas from computer sciences to infer and explain features of these systems. In exemplary nonlinear dynamical systems simple equations can lead to rapid increase in complexity, even strict rules can lead to chaotic behaviors, and properties that do not exist in its individual components emerge in the system. The complexity theory substantiates the view that life will spontaneously develop within systems provided with a sufficiently complex chemistry. There is an enormous gap, however, between this conceptual advance and our actual experimental ability to demonstrate spontaneous emergence of even the most simple life?]like properties. The leading theme of the conference on ?gEmergence in Chemical Systems 2.0?h will be the search for chemistries that can lead to increasingly complex behaviors and emergent properties.
To computer scientists many aspects of complex systems come naturally, both by tradition and by training. For example, building on the continuing progress stemming all the way from Zuse and von Neumann, Chou and Reggia described a cellular automaton leading with close?]to?]certainty to self?]replicating structures regardless of a randomly chosen initial state. One of the goals of the conference is to facilitate chemical grounding of these concepts, which in turn will lead to experimental breakthroughs in designing new and understanding existing complex chemical and biochemical systems.
Sessions at the conferences are planned for bringing together scientists bridging computer science and chemistry in order to develop novel ideas for molecular computing and programming. The sessions will cover wide range of topics, from purely theoretical treatment of computing with chemical reaction networks in vitro and in vivo, through implemented examples from biocomputing and synthetic biology, to existing chemical systems in which implementation of local rules can lead to complex chemical synthesis and self?]assembly. The webpage of conference is: www.math.uaa.alaska.edu/~afkjm/chemicalemergence/index.php funding will be used to cover travel costs for up to 10 promising junior scientist that are on the ?gpath to independence?h. While we will focus on the recruitment of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, recommended undergraduate students and other non-faculty members will be considered as well. We will strive to fill 50% spots with underrepresented groups in science.
