October 17, 2024 | News | New Faces at MPIDR

Welcome, Boris Barron!

Boris Barron has joined the MPIDR in Rostock. © MPIDR/Schulz

Boris Barron joins the team at the Laboratory of Migration and Mobility. Boris comes from Cornell University, where he received his PhD in Physics for his thesis on "Applications of Information Theory to Modelling Complex Systems". His research focuses primarily on combining pieces of information - model construction - with recent applications to residential segregation and NBA basketball.  Before coming to Cornell, he received his BSc in Biophysics from York University and his MSc in Mathematical and Theoretical Physics from the University of Oxford. While working at the MPIDR over the next three years, Boris aims to further refine the modelling process and apply these ideas to systems where they could be most useful. 

What is your motivation to work in this field of research?
Systems involving groups of humans are particularly complex and are quintessential examples of situations where we do not have sufficient information for complete understanding. Nevertheless, I believe that by observing what people do, a lot can be understood and predicted—all without requiring anyone to explain themselves! In my opinion, a good way to develop mathematical approaches is to demonstrate their success in challenging circumstances. At the MPIDR, I believe I will have this opportunity with the added benefit of (potentially) having substantial implications for policy.

Why did you choose MPIDR as your new employer?
My intention was actually to take a year or two away from academia to try my hand at entrepreneurship. The director of Cornell’s Population Center (CPC), however, believed that if there was any place in the world that would appreciate my interdisciplinary approaches, and substantially contribute to my own growth, it would be the MPIDR—and he convinced me. The MPIDR was the only place I applied to.

Where are you from? What do you miss most about home (and maybe: what don’t you miss at all)?
This is a surprisingly challenging question. I have degrees from three different countries, but was born in a fourth (Israel). My parents are from a fifth country (the Soviet Union), where only in the last couple of years have I been asked to specify Ukraine. Depending on how one counts, Germany is the fifth or sixth country that I call home.

What is your favorite and what is your least favorite part about work?
My favorite part is that the MPIDR seems to provide an exceptional environment to focus on research, and the people are very kind, too! My least favorite part about work is that Germans do not seem to believe in air conditioners and insect nets on windows. The first couple of days I was greeted with a heatwave and a wasp nest, but I heard that the 35-degree weather that I came just in time to experience is (thankfully) exceptionally rare. 😅