Raissa D’Souza is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and of Computer Science at the University of California at Davis, as well as an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute and Managing Editor of the journal Internet Mathematics. Dr. D’Souza’s research focuses on mathematical models of self-organization, phase transitions and the structure and function of networked systems. Her publications span the fields of statistical physics, theoretical computer science and applied math.

Dr. D’Souza’s current interest is developing methods to enhance or delay the onset of phase transitions in random graphs as well as using random graphs to model statistical properties of interacting networks, such as congruence between social networks and technical artifacts in Open Source Software, the interplay of genetic-regulatory and protein-interaction networks in biological systems, and diffusion of ideas and viruses through distinct communities. Dr. D’Souza received a doctorate in Statistical Physics from MIT, was a Postdoc at Bell Labs and then a Postdoc in the Theory Group at Microsoft Research.