Arizona State University: Out Of Chaos, Excellence

Press release from Arizona State University:

February 11, 2022

Chaos theorist Ying-Cheng Lai appointed as ASU Regents Professor

How do you become a Regents Professor, the elite of the academic world, specializing in chaos? Sometimes it’s just random.

The hallmark of chaos is called sensitive dependence on initial conditions, which means if you make a small change right now, it's going to be a big change in the future. It’s also called the butterfly effect. If a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, it can cause a tornado in Texas. Despite its apparent randomness, chaos in systems like weather or ecosystems often has patterns.

When Ying-Cheng Lai was a graduate student in the physics department at the University of Maryland College Park, he was selecting a PhD adviser. His first choice was a prominent condensed matter physicist. He made an appointment.

This press release was produced by Arizona State University. The views expressed here are the author’s own.