Abstract:

The architecture of both technological and natural complex systems often 
exhibits hierarchical modularity: simpler modules are used in the
construction of increasingly more complex modules. These architectures
can be modeled as ``layered design networks'', i.e.,  directed, acyclic
and layered graphs in which the simplest modules appear at the bottom
layer and the most complex modules are produced at the highest layer.
Such layered design networks are often subject to an evolutionary
process in which modules at the same layer and serving almost the same
function compete and potentially replace each other. We propose a model
of this evolutionary layered design process. The model shows that the
structure of a layered design network naturally takes the shape of an
hourglass, with the modules at the waist of the hourglass being the
oldest and most resistant to change.

This talk will focus on the application of this model in the context of
networking protocol stacks and biological development.


Biography:

Dr. Constantine Dovrolis is an Associate Professor at the
College of Computing of the Georgia Institute of Technology.
He received the Computer Engineering degree from the
Technical University of Crete in 1995, the M.S. degree
from the University of Rochester in 1996, and the Ph.D. degree
from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2000.
He joined Georgia Tech in August 2002, after serving at the
faculty of the University of Delaware for about two years.
He has held visiting positions at Thomson Research in Paris,
Simula Research in Oslo, and FORTH in Crete.
His current research focuses on the evolution of the Internet,
Internet economics, and on applications of network measurement.
He is also interested in cross-disciplinary applications
of network science in biology, climate science and neuroscience.
Dr. Dovrolis has been an editor for the IEEE/ACM Transactions on 
Networking,the ACM Communications Review (CCR), and he served as the 
Program co-Chair for PAM'05, IMC'07, CoNEXT'11, and as the General Chair 
for HotNets'07. He received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award 
in 2003.