Santo Fortunato, a professor at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering, has been elected a 2022 Fellow of the American Physical Society.
The American Physical Society was formed to advance the knowledge of physics to benefit humanity. Since 1921, it has honored outstanding achievements in research, education and public service. Fellowship signifies professional peer recognition of exceptional contributions to physics through research or publications, important applications of physics, leadership and physics education.
“I am honored by this recognition,” Fortunato said, “not only because it recognizes my contributions, but especially because it places them in the global context of physics, even if the research is quite different from traditional physics.”
Fortunato was honored for his research on network science, specifically the problem of discovering communities in networks. He currently uses techniques from statistical physics and artificial intelligence for network community detection and other problems.
“I believe that the most promising advances in network science of the next decade will occur at the interface between AI and networks,” he said.
Fortunato, who is the director of the Indiana University Network Science Institute, also focuses on social and scientific networks such as networks of citations, and networks of collaborations between scientists.
Each year, no more than one half of one percent of the Society’s membership (excluding student members) is selected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
“We are incredibly proud that APS has recognized Santo for this distinguished recognition,” said Katie Siek, informatics chair. “Santo is an exemplar faculty member in Informatics who is committed to not only making significant contributions to his research area, but also developing future experts in the area through undergraduate and graduate teaching.”
Fortunato’s excellence as a researcher who also teaches an undergraduate core course is unique, Siek added.
“Unlike some institutions where undergraduates would not necessarily interact with award-winning professors, here at the Luddy School, you might just have him in I201.”