Michael Arntzenius is a postdoc at UC Berkeley studying programming languages, database query languages, and how to combine them. He’s also interested in incremental computation: how to do less work by reusing old work and paying attention to what changed.

Matt Cuffaro is research software developer and an incoming Masters student in Mathematics at the University of Florida. He’s at Topos this summer collaborating with Evan Patterson and Kevin Carlson to support “instances of modal double models” in CatColab, a type of document whose objects are instantiations of objects in other model. This brings CatColab closer to one motivating goal, which is compiling instance documents into systems of differential equations.

Aaron Huntley is a 2nd Year pure math PhD student at Case Western Reserve University. They are trying to understand connections between various kinds of double (co)limits and a theory of double presentability. This summer they have begun working with Evan and Kevin defining unbiased (co)products for virtual double categories using the family construction. Outside of math Aaron loves to play and watch soccer, explore the world, and learn different languages.

Bryce Goldman is an engineering RA working on CatColab’s Double TT project with Evan Patterson this summer. He will be implementing a DSL for specifying modal theories and refining the TT package using a type theory for virtual double categories. Bryce recently completed his M.S. in computer science at Stanford, and is broadly interested in compilers, programming languages, and formal methods (and applications of category theory therein).

Khyathi Komalan is a rising junior studying mathematics at Caltech. She enjoys thinking about ways to use category theory to solve structural problems in quantum field theory. This summer, she is working with Kevin Carlson and Brendan Fong to make DOTS more accessible by creating expository materials and a worked example of a safeguarded AI workflow. Outside of math and physics, she spends her time exploring different cuisines, urban exploring, and having philosophical discussions with friends.

This year there are two tracks for Summer RAs: a research track and an engineering track.

Topics for research-track RAs may include:

• Computational category theory using CatColab (Rust/Typescript skills recommended)
• Double category theory
• Categorical statistics
• Polynomial functors
• Interacting dynamical systems
• Hybrid dynamical systems, attractor theory and fast-slow dynamics
• Proof assistants and structure editors
• Philosophical and ethical aspects of applied category theory

For engineering-track RAs, we have projects related to CatColab, which is our first step at Topos toward building production-grade software intended for users without specialized mathematical training. CatColab is a web application with a novel category-theoretic core written in Rust, backed by a server also written in Rust. Its frontend, written in TypeScript/SolidJS, features real-time collaborative editing within a notebook-style interface. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to an open source software system that draws on cutting-edge research to support collective inquiry for the public benefit. Engineering-track RAs do not need to know any category theory to be a good fit for this role (though an ideal candidate would have some familiarity with the subject). If you’ve worked on a technical, production-quality web app, ideally using Rust or TypeScript, and you’re excited about CatColab, then we’d like to hear from you.

You can read more about all the past RAs and their projects on the Summer RA page, or read about each year’s cohort by following the links in the captions below.

Applications are now open. The position is full-time (~40 hours per week) and paid at a rate between 30 and 50 USD per hour, depending on experience.

For full details on how to apply, see the call for applications below. Note that the deadline for applications is January 16th, 2026.

In a research-focussed organisation, researchers often emerge as the stars. After all, they develop the breakthrough ideas, write the papers, prototype the technologies — and they are the most visible, meeting other experts and giving public talks. Topos, however, is more than just a collection of researchers: we are a community pioneering a new, international, and interdisciplinary tech organisation. We do this to help create a future where the systems around us, large and small, allow every member of society to flourish.

As we explore in our research, healthy systems require careful balancing of each part and the ways they fit together, communicate, and evolve. While our researchers study the fundamental nature of these ideas and how they inform construction of powerful and prosocial technologies, it’s our operations team that embodies this work day-in-day-out at Topos.

I’ve been working for the past two years on setting up an office based in Oxford, UK. This has been made possible, of course, only by the help of an incredible research team here — David Jaz, Owen Lynch, Xiaoyan Li, Jason Brown, and José Siqueira — but importantly also by our wonderful operations and administration group: Beth Williams, Molly White, Tish Tanski (and external help from the team at Impact Ops); all supported by Brendan Fong. I’m incredibly grateful to all these people (and more) for trusting me with this role, but now we’ve reached a point where operations, finance, systems, strategy, culture need a dedicated senior UK lead, so we’re launching a call for a Director of UK Operations.

Call for applications: Director of UK Operations

Applications close on the 20th of October. You can find all the information in the call for applications, as well as details on how to apply. If you know anybody who might be interested, then please do forward on the link!

p.s. I’m not leaving Topos, just partially sidestepping into some different responsibilities here. #newyearnewyou

Tony Wehbe is a PhD student in Applied Mathematics at the University of Toledo, advised by William Kalies. His research interests are in dynamical systems (specifically hybrid systems), and he also has a strong interest in Category Theory for its use in studying them. At Topos this summer, he is working with Sophie Libkind on understanding the composition of attractor lattices. Specifically, he is exploring how the lattice of attractors in coupled and feedback systems can be characterized in terms of the lattices of attractors of the component systems.

Lucy Horowitz just finished the first year of her PhD in logic up the hill in Evans Hall, and this summer is working with Kristopher Brown on logical expressivism. They are trying to understand the relationship between “implication-space semantics” and phase-space semantics for linear logic, as well as how to do this kind of substructural logic in some kind of category (likely virtual double categories). Previously Lucy has collaborated with Valeria de Paiva on knowledge graphs of mathematics. When not doing logic Lucy likes to go hiking, play soccer, listen to and play music, and read science fiction.

Aaron Fairbanks is working with Kevin and David studying comonads on the category . Several people at Topos are already fans of polynomial comonads on . This means that the comonad endofunctor is of the form , where denotes the representable functor homming out of the set . Surprisingly, it turns out that polynomial comonads on are the same thing as categories (shown here). They plan to study general (not necessarily polynomial) comonads on , viewing them as a kind of “generalised category”.

Matt Cuffaro is a programmer visiting Topos as an RA, splitting his time between building features which capture selections from H.T. Odum’s Systems Ecology into CatColab as well as discussing modelling with Dana Scott. Matt has collaborated with Topos on the AlgebraicJulia ecosystem as a programmer in the GATAS lab in Gainesville, FL, but is glad to be here on the other side this Summer!

Ea E T is a first-year math PhD student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, working in homotopy theory, infinity-categories, and higher algebra. They did their undergrad in Physics and Mathematics at the University of Calgary, Alberta Canada, which inspired their interest in exploring connections and applications of higher categorical methods in the natural sciences. This summer they are working with Sophie Libkind to explore the use of loose bimodules in the study of dynamical systems.

Corinthia Aberle is a 2nd year PhD student in Pure and Applied Logic in the CS Department at Carnegie Mellon. This Summer, she is working with Evan Patterson and Kevin Carlson on double-categorical logic—specifically, extending the framework of Cartesian double theories to include other sorts of double-categorical limits such as tabulators— she is also working with Dana Scott on the side on promoting formalization in Agda (since She’ll be formalizing all of her results on double categories anyway!) Corinthia was an RA here last summer as well (under the name CB, back then), during which time she worked with David Spivak on applications of polynomial functors to the semantics of dependent type theory. Corinthia is also a composer, songwriter, and producer, who just released her first pop album and is currently working on another one in her spare time! Before starting her PhD, Corinthia also did half her undergrad in philosophy, and remains keenly interested in philosophical issues pertaining to math, logic, technology, and their role in society.

Integrating research and tech

Mathematics and science achieve their greatest impact when innovative basic research is coupled with translation into robust and usable technology. That is easier said than done. Today, research and development, despite appearing conjoined in the acronym “R&D,” are rarely done together. Research in mathematics and other foundational fields happens almost exclusively in academia, whereas production-grade technology is built mostly by industry. Moreover, the flow of ideas tends to be unidirectional, from “theory” to “practice,” failing to create the feedback loops that would supply basic researchers with unexpected ideas and worthwhile problems.

So far, much of our work at Topos Institute has been basic research in mathematics and computer science, pioneering a mathematical systems science and and demonstrating it through software prototypes. That important work will continue. However, for our research to produce its intended effects—enabling collective inquiry across science and engineering, and helping people of all stripes navigate a complex and rapidly changing world—we must integrate our research with practices and workflows that people have, without requiring that they possess specialized training in advanced mathematics. Technology is a key means to embody mathematical ideas in this way.

At Topos Institute, we are working toward practicing an integrative process of creating new mathematics and building usable technologies, with feedback flowing regularly in both directions. We aim to vertically integrate basic research in systems theory with the development of usable technology for collective inquiry, all in service of public benefit. We believe that our unique structure and culture—drawing funding from a mix of research grants, industrial contracts, and philanthropy; equally respecting the crafts of research and development; pursuing team science though high-bandwidth, in-person collaboration; and taking a careful, reflective attitude toward the creation of technology—will make it possible for us to do so.

Dear all,

It is with great pleasure that I announce the start of our TopOx seminar series, a partnership between the Topos Institute and the Oxford University Computer Science department. We will extend invitations to distinguished speakers throughout the year to come to Oxford and join us for a discussion on Category Theory, Logic, Type Theory, and adjacent topics.

The first talk will be held on Tuesday, the 13th of May, at 4pm at the Oxford Mathematical Institute (Andrew Wiles Building, Lecture Theatre L2, downstairs). Our inaugural speaker is Professor Peter T. Johnstone (University of Cambridge)

Title: Remarks on local state classifiers

Abstract: In a recent paper, Ryuya Hora introduced a remarkable new concept called a local state classifier, and showed that (when it exists) it provides a solution to Lawvere’s problem of parametrizing the hyperconnected quotients of a given topos by structures internal to the topos. However, he left some questions unanswered. This talk will describe Hora’s construction, together with my attempts to answer the outstanding questions, and some new examples.

The talk is open to all. We hope to see you there.

Best wishes, The Organisers

Along the way, RAs will also participate in our weekly lunches and seminars, blog about their time here, and produce papers, books, software, or policy, according to the parameters of their project.

Topics for this year’s program may include:

• Computational category theory using CatColab (Rust/Typescript skills recommended)
• Double category theory
• Categorical statistics
• Polynomial functors
• Interacting dynamical systems
• Hybrid dynamical systems, attractor theory and fast-slow dynamics
• Proof assistants and structure editors
• Program synthesis and spec generation
• Computational logical expressivism
• Philosophical and ethical aspects of applied category theory

Summer RAs are an important part of life at Topos — they help explore new directions relevant to Topos projects, and they bring new ideas, energy, and expertise to our research groups.

You can read more about all the past RAs and their projects on the Summer RA page, or read about each year’s cohort by following the links in the captions below.

As part of our commitment to building a world where the systems that surround us benefit us all, we particularly encourage applications from those whose life experiences may be underrepresented in the Topos community – your perspectives are important, and we want them to be heard at Topos.

Applications are now open. The position is full-time (~40 hours per week) and paid at a rate between 30 and 45 USD per hour, depending on experience. Unfortunately, Topos is not able to sponsor US work visas for participants.

For full details on how to apply, see the call for applications below. Note that the deadline for applications is January 17th, 2025.

Your model is a formal object—it can be visualized, but as an emergent view on its more fundamental, mathematical semantics. You build your model in your preferred domain-specific logic, which you can think of as a kind of programming language, the first few of which are available for experimentation today. Depending on the logic, there are various well-specified analyses that let you compute things about your model, such as finding potentially powerful feedback loops in a social network or simulating the development of an ecosystem over time.

Soon, we’re going to implement capabilities to migrate models among various logic, so that you can communicate with your friends and collaborators without everyone being forced to settle on a single language. CatColab aims to be your universal translator for expressing precise structural thoughts about our world.

There are many reasons why we’ve wanted to open up another office in a different location, and one of them is simply so that we can work with a wider range of people — time zones and geography become slightly less of a barrier when you have two offices 8,500 kilometres apart. I’ll be writing more soon about some of the work that we’ve started since being here, but the main purpose of this post today is to advertise our first two open positions here in the Oxford office.

We’re searching for two postdoctoral researchers working on the theory and practice of compositional conceptual modelling: one working on double categorical systems theory (DCST) with David Jaz Myers, and the other working on models as structured data (MaSD) with both David Jaz and Owen Lynch. Both positions are for one-year, but we want to grow our team, and any successful applicant may have the opportunity for extension, or even to transition to a permanent role.

For more information, including salary, a more detailed description of the project and corresponding responsibilities, and how to apply, please see the official calls for applications below:

I look forward to updating you all on what the next steps for Topos are here in the UK!

C.B. Aberlé is a PhD student in the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University, where she is studying for a PhD in Pure and Applied Logic, advised by Frank Pfenning. Before that, she studied Computer Science and Philosophy at Merton College, University of Oxford, obtaining a BA in 2023. She is interested in developing logical frameworks and programming languages that are up to the task of formalizing modern mathematics – pure and applied – and facilitating productive interplay between proving and programming while also interfacing with the broader world. For this purpose she seeks to understand the abstract, mathematical principles behind the processes of abstraction and interaction at the heart of mathematics and its applications. Previously, she has worked on categorical semantics of linear dependent type theory, and recently presented a category-theoretic treatment of parametricity in cohesive homotopy type theory. This Summer, she worked with David Spivak on developing the categorical semantics of dependent type theory in terms of polynomial functors and natural models.

Keri D’Angelo is a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at Cornell University, advised by Dexter Kozen. She received her M.S. in Pure Mathematics from Florida State University. Keri’s research interests are in coalgebras and Homotopy Type Theory, but she has a strong interest in Applied Category Theory in general for its use in bringing people from different fields together under one common language. At Topos this summer, she is working with Sophie Libkind on using wiring diagrams for composing instantaneous machines.

Owen Haaga is DPhil student at Oxford University, working in the Institute for New Economic Thinking and the School of Geography and the Environment to build forecasting models of labour markets. His thesis involves Systems Dynamics and Agent Based Modeling, so he is spending a summer at Topos exploring the application of new Algebraic Julia libraries to these types of models.

Owen holds an MA from the University of Maryland, an MPhil from Cambridge University, and a BA from Vanderbilt University, all in Economics. He has worked in the public, private, and non-profit sectors, mostly doing (and communicating the results of) quantitative social scientific research.

He is particularly interested in the potential for category theory to enable interdisciplinary collaboration between modelers from different backgrounds in the social and natural sciences.

As well as the three Summer RAs above, we are delighted to have a Summer Visiting Scholar who will be working mostly with Dana Scott.

Eric Boniface is a math PhD student at UC Berkeley. Their research interests are in mathematical logic, computer algebra, and applied algebraic geometry. This summer they are working with Dana Scott and Evan Patterson to extend GATlab, a Julia package for modeling and programming generalized algebraic theories. They are working to represent regular, coherent, and geometric categories in GATlab to extend this package to reason about theories with quantifiers. In a similar direction, they are also interested in the interactions between categorical logic and classical first order model theory.

Here’s the course description:

When designing complex, multi-component systems, we need to consider multiple trade-offs at various abstraction levels and scales, and choices of single components need to be studied jointly. For instance, the design of future mobility solutions (e.g., autonomous vehicles, micromobility) and the design of the mobility systems they enable are closely coupled. Indeed, knowledge about the intended service of novel mobility solutions would impact their design and deployment process, while insights about their technological development could significantly affect transportation management policies. Approaching the co-design of these systems is a complex task for at least two reasons. On one hand, the co-design of interconnected systems (e.g., large networks of cyber-physical systems) involves the simultaneous choice of components arising from heterogeneous natures (e.g., hardware vs. software parts) and fields, while satisfying systemic constraints and accounting for multiple objectives. On the other hand, components are connected via collaborative and conflicting interactions between different stakeholders (e.g., within an intermodal mobility system). In short, we lack tools that can enable the clear formulation and efficient solution of such complex, compositional design problems.

In various engineering and applied science domains, recognizing the significance of abstraction and compositionality can markedly enhance both problem understanding and solution development. Applied Category Theory is a branch of mathematics that offers valuable insights into these very aspects. A problem, however, is that this type of mathematics is not traditionally taught – to date, there exists no easy path for engineers to learn category theory that is approachable and emphasizes engineering applications, such as the ones presented above. This course aims at filling this gap. It is designed not merely to teach category theory, but to foster the compositional engineering way of thinking. Category theory will just be the means towards this end.

The class covers topics from foundational principles to advanced applications, emphasizing the role of compositional thinking in engineering. It showcases successful applications in areas such as dynamical systems and automated system design optimization, with a focus on autonomous robotics and mobility. Additionally, the course offers students the opportunity to work on their own application through a dedicated project in the second half of the semester.

Chapman is a private, non-profit research university located in Orange, California. Recently, Chapman’s Schmid College of Science and Technology has launched a new D.Sc. Program in Mathematics, Philosophy, and Physics (MPP). This multidisciplinary training program reflects the holistic approach to technology central to the Topos vision. We further share a common belief that translational work and real world impact is crucial for high quality basic research, and that it is important to work openly to share our knowledge for the benefit of all.

The collaboration between the Topos Institute and Chapman University will primarily unfold through joint initiatives within the Chapman MPP program. Proposals include the organization of joint workshops and seminars and the pursuit of collaborative research projects, providing graduate students at Chapman with invaluable opportunities for engagement with Topos researchers. Topos researchers may contribute to dissertation committees, deliver seminars and lectures, and participate in shaping the scientific agenda of the MPP program.

Each year, many people reach out to ask how they might pursue doctoral studies with our researchers at Topos, or in applied category theory and our topics of research more generally. We’re excited to be helping to create new pathways for training, to continue to grow the community, and to make our research more accessible to the public.

Specific areas of mutual research interest between the Topos Institute and Chapman faculty within the Schmid College of Science and Technology include mathematical modelling of real-world systems (such as epidemiological and engineering systems), the foundational aspects of systems science and systems biology, programming language design employing type theory and its logical underpinnings, and endeavours in AI safety, logic, formal methods, and category theory for computing.

Witnessing these common interests, two recent conferences organised by Chapman and related to the MPP program are Grothendieck, a Multifarious Giant: Mathematics, Logic and Philosophy and Is Philosophy Useful for Science, and/or Vice Versa?.

To launch the collaboration and explore topics of mutual interest, Topos and Chapman scientists met for a joint workshop on May 8th, 2024. Videos of the talks can be found in this YouTube playlist.

• neuroscience
• agent-based modeling
• epidemiology
• predictive coding
• type theory
• machine learning

On the event website, you can read more about the workshop, find a series of YouTube lectures given by David Spivak as part of the workshop, and peruse research artifacts created by the participants.

In December, Shaowei and I spent a week in Singapore co-directing and co-facilitating the inaugural Singapore Conference on AI for the Global Good, or SCAI. A partnership between Topos and the Government of Singapore, SCAI had two, related goals: (1) to build an international, cross-sectoral community of leaders who will work together to ensure AI serves the global good, and (2) to facilitate shared understanding by working together to identify foundational, yet tractable, questions about AI and the global good.

Forty-two delegates participated in SCAI, and they worked hard. Within three days of intense debate and joint authoring, the delegates wrote and published a 74 page report from scratch, identifying and articulating 12 critical questions of AI that, if answered, will enable AI to be developed and deployed for the global good. Through intense discussions and indicative votes that gradually whittled 170 questions down to just 12, the delegates identified priorities spanning governance, risk management, and safety evaluation, to scientific discovery, education, and mechanisms for deployment for global good.

The delegates were each esteemed experts in their own right – including representatives in policy and science from America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East; professors across computer science, engineering, public policy, and philosophy from leading universities including MIT, Stanford, Princeton, Oxford, Peking University and the Australian National University; AI companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepMind, and Meta; and nonprofits focussed both on technical matters, like the Beijing Academy of AI, and social matters, like the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab. Four members of the UN High Level Advisory Board on AI joined us, and used the report to inform discussions at the first UN High Level Advisory Board on AI meeting in New York later the same week.

It is certain that AI systems and technologies will reshape the world in the coming years. How the world will be reshaped, however, is an open question. At Topos, we hope that we will be able to build technologies that unlock new ways of collaborating with each other for shared benefit: discovering new materials and new medicines that improve our lives; helping people understand their community in new ways that empower them; facilitating more responsive forms of shared enterprise, that better take into account all the complexities and stakeholders previously external to the structure. We hope for a more equitable, more caring, more healthy world.

Yet this is far from certain, and we must also work together to avoid a future where such technologies work against the common good, via designs and deployment that displace people from their jobs and communities, entrench societal biases and inequality, cause environmental damage, lead to large-scale industrial accidents that cost countless lives, and perhaps cause irreparable harm to society and humanity.

The world’s attention is on this, and often when bringing together an expert group, opinions have already been formed — some see AI as more of an opportunity, others focus on the risks. Some see short term, social risks; others grand existential threat. Our goal was to foster an environment where people could have frank, personal exchanges in a collaborative way, breaking out of the dominant conversational ruts. In particular, we wanted to come together to identify the important issues, rather than drift into the space of presenting solutions before agreeing on common goals. Most important was to simply get to know and trust each other. It was a privilege to have this group clear their schedules to join us in Singapore for three full days of open, intimate, and sometimes heated conversations.

To facilitate this aim, we worked with Singapore to put together a completely discussion-based format, centered about the search for foundational yet tractable questions. Each question has three sections. First, the identification of the context and assumptions behind the question. When we disagree, or search for foundational issues, it’s often important to step back and ensure we review the assumptions informing our perspective, and make them explicit, if not ensure they’re shared. Next, the phrasing of the question in a detail-oriented way, making clear its exact meaning and why it is foundationally important – that is, what other important questions in AI would be unlocked by good answers to the core question. Finally, indicators of progress, which help describe why the question is tractable, and concretely what a successful response might look like.

The process was designed to get a holistic perspective that synthesised the views of diverse group of people, responding fluidly to their exchanges in real time. While a completely different format – a workshop rather than open source scientific modelling software – the core design principles echo those present in our work on collaborative modelling and connected intelligence. In particular, the delegates collaborated to build artefacts (question statements), that have a well-designed, structured form (the question framework), while maintaining shared visibility of the totality (shared, live versions of the draft questions, as well as status summaries and requests for help), while holding a holistic perspective as an explicit, shared goal (a report on foundational, tractable questions about AI and the global good).

Convening such meetings is an important part of the Topos mission. While our existing core expertise is in technical aspects of technology research, technologies have both social and technical aspects, and we cannot build tecnhologies effectively for public benefit without being deeply integrated into the world of technology sociology, policy, and deployment.

We’re especially excited to partner with Singapore on this project, under the auspices of Minister Josephine Teo and her Ministry of Communications and Information. Singapore’s willingness to bring in world experts, including highly technical ones, so senior civil servants could seriously engage with and listen to them, and to embrace the uncertainty and diversity of perspectives around AI, sets an example for governments around the world to follow. To, moreover, do this in the search of how to benefit not just Singapore, but the world at large, and to publish the results for everyone to read, speaks to their forethought and global citizenry.

It was a delight to work with our incredible conference co-directors Ruimin He, Chief AI Officer of Singapore, and Wanyi Weng, Director of the National AI Office & Government Data Division, and their excellent teams, who worked weekends, late nights, and early mornings to make the event a success. We were also delighted to work with the ever-insightful Professor Vaughn Tan at the UCL School of Management. For more detail about the design and logic of the conference, check out his excellent article here – in a lovely metaphor, he describes SCAI as a ‘hot air balloon conference’.

The devotion put into the event by both the delegates and the organising teams was humbling and inspiring – moments intense like ‘table 3’ still engaged in deep debate hours after the close of a long day’s writing, determined to absorb each other’s perspectives on AI and safety, as well as moments light-hearted like an organiser’s mother dropping off a basket of mangosteen and other tropical fruits so delegates could share their first taste. It speaks to the real commitment around the world to ensuring AI serves the global good.

Finally, of course, please read the report, and learn what the SCAI delegates discussed as they searched for the foundational, tractable questions about AI for the global good:

Singapore Ministry of Communications and Information & Smart Nation Group, in partnership with Topos Institute. (2023). Preliminary Conversations Towards AI for the Global Good: The SCAI Questions. Proceedings of the Singapore Conference on AI for the Global Good, 4-6 December 2023, Singapore. Available at: https://www.scai.gov.sg/findings.

You may have heard of the Fields Medal, one of the most prestigious math prizes. But the Fields Institute, in Toronto, holds a lot of meetings on mathematics. So when COVID hit, it was a big problem. The director of the institute, Kumar Murty, decided to steer into the wind and set up a network of institutions working on COVID, including projects on the mathematics of infectious disease and systemic risks. This worked well, so now he wants to start a project on the mathematics of climate change. Nathaniel Osgood and I are leading it.

Nate, as I call him, is a good friend and collaborator. He’s a computer scientist at the University of Saskatchewan and, among other things, an expert on epidemiology who helped lead COVID modeling for Canada. We’re currently using category theory to develop a better framework for agent-based models.

Nate and I plan to focus the Fields Institute project not on the geophysics of climate change — e.g., trying to predict how bad global warming will be — but the human response to it — that is, figuring out what we should do! This project will be part of the Fields Institute’s Centre for Sustainable Development.

I’ll have a lot more to say about this. But for now, let me just say: I’m very excited to have this opportunity! Mathematics may not be the main thing we need to battle climate change, but there are important things in this realm that can only be done with the help of math. I know a lot of mathematicians, computer scientists, statisticians and others with quantitative skills want to do something about climate change. I aim to help them do it.

Congratulations to Angeline Aguinaldo, Evan Patterson, and their collaborators James Fairbanks, William Regli, and Jaime Ruiz at the University of Florida and the University of Maryland, College Park for winning Best Paper Award at the 2023 AAAI Fall Symposium on Unifying Representations for Robot Application Development (UR-RAD) for “A Categorical Representation Language and Computational System for Knowledge-Based Robotic Task Planning”. The research described in this paper presents a significant shift in the approach to robotic task planning by employing the category of copresheaves (C-Sets) and Double-Pushout (DPO) rewriting to model world states and actions.

Shaowei’s experience spans mathematical research (including as Assistant Professor in Engineering Systems and Design at Singapore University of Technology and Design), research administration (Deputy Head (Research) of the Sense-making Group at the Institute of Infocomm Research, Singapore), and launching and leading scientific start-ups (Head of AI at Awecom).

In addition, through his career, Shaowei has been involved in planning and executing over USD 10M of research grant funding. He thus brings a wealth of expertise across the exact mix of duties underpinning our Director of Research role. Shaowei completed his PhD on Algebraic Statistics at UC Berkeley under the supervision of Bernd Sturmfels, and holds a BS in Mathematics from Stanford.

Shaowei has long been a supporter and advocate for Topos, reaching out in early 2021 when we were just beginning operations. He spoke about program synthesis in the Topos Colloquium in April 2021, and has visited Topos Berkeley for a number of events, including Dana Scott’s 90th birthday celebration, and our recent Advisory Council Retreat.

At the same time, David Spivak will be transitioning to a new, dual role as Senior Scientist and Institute Fellow. This role reflects a greater focus on leading his connected intelligence research agenda at Topos, centered around his new $1.8M AFOSR grant Structure and Dynamics of Working Language. As Institute Fellow, we’re thrilled that David will continue his essential work as a leading advocate for Topos – collaborating with his network to expand our support base across government, industry, and philanthropy – and will continue to serve as part of our Leadership team. We’re very grateful for David’s pivotally important service as Chief Scientist, and know that both he and Topos will continue to thrive as his role evolves to bring more focus to his world-leading research.

Please join me in giving Shaowei a warm welcome to our team. We’re extremely excited about this next stage in Topos’ growth, as we pursue a world in which the systems that surround us benefit us all.

Introduction

There are surprisingly deep connections between algebraic geometry and statistical learning theory, which have been explored over the past few decades by Sumio Watanabe in Singular Learning Theory. This body of work is highly relevant to the problem of understanding the behaviour of large neural networks. In the Primer running over the first week of the SLT & Alignment summit, an introduction to the conceptual and technical foundations of SLT and associated statistical physics will be given, together with the outline of a promising research agenda for applying these ideas to problems in AI alignment. These tutorials will be live-streamed from the Topos Institute. The second week features research talks and will be hosted at Atlantis (2401 Piedmont Ave).