If you were named A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University, what would that mean? For one thing, it’d mean that for a six-year term, you’d be considered a full member of the faculty at Cornell. For another, it would put you in the illustrious company of renowned primatologist Jane Goodall, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison, and acclaimed “Monty Python” actor John Cleese, to name a few others who have held this honor.
Now that elite list also includes Duncan Watts, a principal researcher at Microsoft Research New York City.
“Duncan was chosen for this honor because he is a world-renowned scholar whose research launched ‘the new science of networks’ that has transformed the social and behavioral sciences and captured the public imagination,” says Michael Walton Macy, Goldwin Smith professor of sociology at Cornell.
Watts holds a B.Sc. in physics from the Australian Defence Force Academy and a doctorate in theoretical and applied mechanics from Cornell. He was also a professor of sociology at Columbia University from 2000 to 2007.
The White professorship mandates that its recipients enliven the intellectual and cultural life of Cornell University. As his alma mater, that holds particular significance for Watts.
“Some of my fondest memories are of wandering around Cornell lost in thought, trying to figure out the right question,” he says.
Read more about Watts and the work he’s done over at the Inside Microsoft Research blog.
Jennifer Chen
Microsoft News Center Staff