– PORTFOLIO –
Daniel Kabat
Collaboration is a Key Scientific Principle
As further evidence of Lehman’s mission to be an innovative
research institute, the College has created the Center for
Theoretical & Computational Sciences, which opened in March
2015 with the goal of fostering interdisciplinary collaboration
among students and faculty in the Chemistry, Math and Computer
Science, and Physics and Astronomy departments. It will not only
strengthen the College’s science community, but will also give
students in various disciplines an outlet to explore their interests.
“The Center is the first of its kind at Lehman,” explained Daniel
Kabat, the chair of the Physics department and the Center’s
director. “The idea behind it was that we have all this really
wonderful and interesting research being done by our faculty
and our students, and there should be a place where it could all
come together.”
While Kabat’s work focuses specifically on understanding
quantum gravity, including black holes, he envisions the Center as
a productive environment for many departments. One way that will
be achieved is through the Center’s commitment to encouraging
collaboration between both faculty and students. “Some sharing
of ideas will be done through collaborations, but most will be in
the guise of informal discussions among colleagues, mentoring of
undergraduate and graduate students, and conversations between
faculty and students in different fields whereby cross-fertilization
of ideas can occur,” said Jason Behrstock, a professor in Lehman’s
Math and Computer Science department. It was through this crossfertilization of ideas that Behrstock became interested in his current research on probabilistic combinatorics. He now has a Simons
Foundation Mathematics Fellowship to facilitate work.
“The stereotype of the scientist as a lone genius lives on,” said
Kabat. “But the fact is that the time when an isolated scientist
could do significant research is long gone. These days science
is an intensely collaborative activity, where a wide range of skills
and knowledge must be brought to bear to make progress. When
a diversity of ideas and perspectives are present, the truth gets
revealed much more quickly.”
Lehman Today/Spring 2015
17