The Origins Institute in partnership with the McMaster Alumni Association is pleased to welcome to Hamilton Dr. Charles Ofria from Michigan State University to give a FREE public lecture.

A grand challenge in evolutionary biology is to understand how populations evolve from simple, single-celled organisms to the complex plants and animals we see in the world today. Darwin himself recognized the difficulty of explaining the origins of traits of “extreme perfection and complication” such as the vertebrate eye, but provided profound insights into the process. While these long-term processes are challenging to study in nature, modern computer systems are capable of evolving large populations of “digital organisms”.

Dr. Ofria will discuss his research which studies these digital populations as they evolve new, complex traits and behaviors in their virtual environments.

Thursday, October 24, 2019
7:00 pm – doors open & light refreshments
7:30 pm – lecture
McMaster Innovation Park
Room 1BCD
175 Longwood Road South

To register or for more information please visit alumni.mcmaster.ca/Origins5 or email ckenned@mcmaster.ca