Van
M. Savage
Curriculum Vitae
Department of Biomathematics
Telephone: 310-206-6692
200 Longwood
Ave.
Fax: 310-432-5012
Los Angeles, CA
90095 USA
E-mail: vsavage@ucla.edu
Web Site: http://www.biomath.ucla.edu/vsavage/
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Biological: vascular networks; scaling for
individual, population, and community processes;
effects of climate change; cancer; sleep times;
organization and constraint of diversity
Mathematics: Asymptotics;
partial differential equations; stochastic processes; optimization;
models of fractal and asymmetric branching
networks; diffusion-reaction equations;
Navier-Stokes equations; Lotka-Volterra-type
equations; moment-closure and variational methods
EDUCATION:
1996-2001 Ph.D. in Physics, Washington University,
St. Louis, MO "Analytical and numerical
methods for studying PT-symmetric but non-Hermitian Hamiltonians", Carl
Bender, Adviser
1996-1999 A.M. in Physics, Washington University, St. Louis, MO,
1992-1996 B.S. in Physics, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN, cum
laude, Phi Beta Kappa
PROFESSIONAL
EXPERIENCE:
2009-present Assistant Professor, Department of Biomathematics, University of California at Los
Angeles Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA
2006-2008 Instructor, Department of Systems Biology,
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
2004-2006 Systems Biology Postdoctoral Fellow, Bauer
Center for Genomics Research,
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
2001-2004 Joint Postdoctoral Fellow
The Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM
Particles and Fields Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos,
NM
1997-2001 Graduate Research Assistantship, Quantum
Field Theory DOE grant, Washington
University, St. Louis, MO
GRANTS AND AWARDS:
2008-2010
NSF-Advancing
Theory in Biology Grant, "Combining theories for plant
architecture, allometry,
and traits to develop the next generation of scaling theory",
$737,521, (co-PI)
2009-2011 Australian Research Council
(ARC)-Discovery Projects, "Predicting biodiversity
from population dynamics", $225,000 (co-PI).
2008 ARC-NZ
Workshop for Vegetation Function "WG36 Trait-Based Models",
approximately
$25,000-$30,000, (PI and Organizer)
2006-2008 NSF-Ecology Grant, "Trait-based approaches for
predicting ecosystem response to
environmental
change: Empirical tests and model development",
$109,274, (listed as Senior Personnel but served role of co-PI because
of my
academic status)
2000
NSF Physics Graduate Fellowship, The Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM
1996
Meritorious Award in Mathematical Contest in Modeling by COMAP and
the
NSA,
my team finished in top 15 out of 400 international teams, Rhodes
College, Memphis, TN
INVITED PRESENTATIONS:
Biology
Talks:
Poster, Biosphere
2 Symposium. "Evaluating the structure and allometry of plant vascular
systems to scale plant
carbon flux", University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 2009
Colloquium Speaker, "Allometric
scaling and physiological networks", Dartmouth College,
Hanover, NH 2008
Invited Speaker, SIAM conference on the Life
Sciences, MS4: Investigating neural
mechanisms
of sleep and anesthesia through modeling, "A quantitative, metabolic theory of
mammalian
sleep", Montreal, Quebec, Canada 2008
Invited Speaker, Gordon Research Conference on
the Metabolic Basis of Ecology, "Modeling
and measuring ecological diversity: moving from
individual physiology to interactions and the
environment", University of New England,
Biddeford, ME 2008
Speaker and Organizer, "WG 36 trait-driver
models", ARC-NZ Vegetation Function Network,
Macquarie University,
Sydney, Australia 2008
Colloquium Speaker, "Understanding and managing
change from ecosystems and the
environment
to the economy and education", Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 2008
Colloquium Speaker, "New models for
understanding physiological and ecological systems",
New Jersey Institute of
Technology, Newark, NJ 2008
Colloquium Speaker, "Linking individuals with
ecosystems", Ohio State University, Columbus,
OH 2008
Colloquium Speaker, "Modeling and measuring
ecological diversity and organization", Tulane
University, New Orleans, LA
2008
Colloquium Speaker, "Linking individuals with
ecosystems: New mathematical methods for
studying
physiological and ecological systems", University of California at Los Angeles,
Los
Angeles, CA 2008
Colloquium Speaker, "Linking individuals with
ecosystems: New models for understanding
physiological
and ecological systems", University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA 2008
Colloquium Speaker, "New mathematical methods
for studying physiological and ecological
systems",
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 2008
Colloquium Speaker, "Modeling and measuring
ecological diversity", Louisiana State
University, Baton Rouge, LA
2007
Seminar Speaker, "A quantitative, metabolic
theory for mammalian sleep", Division of Sleep
Medicine, Brigham and
WomenÕs Hospital, Boston MA 2007
Seminar Speaker, "A quantitative theory of
tumor growth and vascularization", Center for
Cancer Systems Biology,
Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston MA 2007
Colloquium Speaker, "Scaling from unicells to whales: New methods for studying
physiological
and
ecological systems", University of Washington, Seattle, WA 20
Invited Speaker, PIBBS Seminar, "Biological scaling and climate
change: Effects of temperature
on
population growth, species interactions, and rates of adaptation", University
of New
Mexico, Albuquerque,
NM 2007
Colloquium Speaker, "Scaling in biology", Rhodes College, Memphis,
TN 2007
Seminar Speaker, "Scaling and biological networks", Fidelity
Investments, Boston, MA
Poster Presentation, Gordon Research Conference on the Metabolic
Basis of Ecology, "Cold-
blooded
killers: Effects of body size and temperature on predator-prey relations",
Bates
College, Lewiston, ME
2006
Colloquium Speaker, "Scaling from unicells
to whales", Washington State University, Pullman,
WA 2006
Colloquium Speaker, "Scaling from unicells
to whales: constraints on evolution and
development",
University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS 2005
Invited Speaker,
Physics and Complex Systems Seminar, "Scaling in biology", Chalmers
University, Gothenburg, Sweden, 2005.
Colloquium Speaker, "Scaling in biology: A unifying approach to
cells, individuals, and
Ecosystems",
James Cook University, Townsville, Australia, 2005.
Invited Speaker and Participant, Vascular Design A:
Working meeting of the ARC-NZ
Research
Network for Vegetation Function, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, 2005.
Invited Speaker, Gordon Research Conference, "The Allometry of Stoichiometry",
Bates
College, ME, 2004.
Plenary Speaker, Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity
Symposium, Rhodes College,
Memphis, TN, 2004
Colloquium Speaker, PRIMES program (joint between biology,
engineering, and math
departments), "Resource-distribution networks and biochemical kinetics", Colorado State
University, Fort
Collins, CO, 2003
Symposium Speaker, Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, "Effects of body size and
temperature
on population growth", Savannah, GA, 2003
Invited Speaker, Santa Fe Institute
workshop: Towards an ecology based on first principles of
size,
temperature, and stoichiometry, "Effects of size and
temperature on population growth",
Santa Fe, NM, 2002
Invited Speaker, Biology Seminar, "Scaling in populations and
ecosystems", University of
Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 2002
Physics
Talks:
Invited Speaker, International workshop on non-Hermitian
Hamiltonians, "PT–symmetric
quantum
field theories and the Langevin equation", Prague,
Czech Republic, 2003.
Invited Speaker, Physics Theory Seminar, "Numerical simulations of
PT–symmetric but non-
Hermitian
Hamiltonians", Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 2002
TEACHING
EXPERIENCE:
Guest Lecturer, Circadian Biology: From cellular oscillators to
sleep regulation, Harvard
University, Cambridge, MA,
2008
Faculty, Santa Fe Institute
Complex Systems Summer School, lectured on mathematical
methods, including scaling theory,
diffusion equations, probability and statistics, data analysis,
and coupled ordinary and partial
differential equations for studying systems in ecology,
evolution, physiology, physics,
medicine, and economics, Santa Fe, NM,
2007
Faculty, Santa Fe Institute Complex Systems Summer School, Beijing,
China, 2005-2007
Faculty, Integrative Biology Course Evolutionary and Ecological
Genomics, lectured on scaling
methods for studying biological systems Patzcuaro,
Mexico, 2006
Faculty, Complex Systems School, joint between the Indian Institute
for Mathematical Sciences
and the Santa Fe Institute, Chennai, India, 2006
Guest Lecturer, Introductory Physics, Washington University, St.
Louis, MO, University
College, 1998,
and Summer, 2001
Teaching Assistant, Epic of Evolution (joint course between
Physics, Biology, and Earth and
Planetary
Sciences Departments), provided solution sets, helped with in-class
demonstrations
and assigning of final grades, and graded, Washington
University, St. Louis, MO, 2000
Teaching Assistant, Mathematical Methods in Physics and Advanced
Mathematical Methods
in
Physics, made solution sets and graded, Washington University, St. Louis, MO,
1998-1999
Teaching Assistant, Physics and Society, provided solution sets,
held office hours, helped
assign
final grades, and graded, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 1998
Teaching Assistant, Introductory Physics, taught 3 lab sections per
week, assigned final lab
grades,
one of 4 out of 12 TAs to hold office hours, and graded, Washington University,
St.
Louis, MO,
1996-1998
Teaching Assistant, Intermediate Lab,
guided students through experiments, helped assign final
grades,
and graded, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN, 1994-1995
COMMITTEES AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICE:
Participant, UC Edge: Graduate Recruitment Day, 2009
Advisor to Alex Duncan (undergraduate at
Cornell University), summer research intern,
Harvard Medical School,
Boston, MA, 2008
Advisor to Alex Herman (currently in MD/PhD
program at UCSF), Research Experience for
Undergraduates, Santa Fe
Institute, Santa Fe, NM, 2002-2004
Consultant to David Malakoff for ScienceNow, 2008
Referee for Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, The American Naturalist,
Journal of Experimental
Biology, Proceedings of the Royal Society A, Ecology Letters, British
Journal of Cancer, Trends
in Ecology and Evolution, Physics in Medicine and Biology, Oikos,
Journal of Animal Ecology,
Journal of Theoretical Biology, Functional Ecology, Tree
Physiology, Integrative
Zoology, Journal of Physics A: Mathematics and General, Journal of
Mathematical Physics,
Physics Letters A, International Journal of Modern Physics Letters,
Ecology and Society, Acta Oecologia, Journal of Animal
Ecology
Grant Reviewer for National Science Foundation
(NSF), 2006
Grant Reviewer for the City University of New
York System, 2007
Member of Selection Committee for the Complex
Systems Summer School at the Santa Fe
Institute, Santa Fe, NM,
2002-2006
Member of Teaching Assistant Committee, Washington University, St.
Louis, MO, 2000
Graduate Council Representative and Student Government Senator,
Washington University, St.
Louis, MO, 1998-2000
Chair of Academic Affairs Committee, Along with two others, I wrote
a 40 page report based
on
our extensive research and dialogue with other colleges that suggested changes
to the
tenure-review
process at Rhodes College. The majority of our suggestions were adopted.
Rhodes College, Memphis,
TN, 1994-1996
REFERENCES:
President of the Santa Fe
Institute
Senior Laboratory Fellow, Los
Alamos National Laboratory
Santa Fe Institute
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Telephone: 505-667-5382
E-mail: gbw@lanl.gov
Geoff is frequently traveling, so
it is often best to contact his assistant at: dlu@santafe.edu
Distinguished Professor
Member of National Academy of
Sciences
Biology Department
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
Telephone: 505-277-9337
E-mail: jhbrown@unm.edu
Jim is frequently traveling, so
it is often best to contact his assistant at: shannon@unm.edu
Abby Rockefeller Mauze Professor
Rockefeller University
New York City, NY 10021
E-mail: cohen@mail.rockefeller.edu
Professor
Department Of Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721
E-mail: benquist@email.uarizona.edu
Professor
Department of Systems
Biology
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA 02115
E-mail: walter@hms.harvard.edu
Distinguished Professor
Biology Department
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
E-mail: rlc@unm.edu