Eric Bonabeau

In the 1990s, Bonabeau was a research engineer with France Telecom R&D, a research and development engineer with Cadence Design Systems, and the Interval Research Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute. A hotel mix-up in Santa Fe placed him in a room with Guy Theraulaz, a French scientist studying the collective intelligence of social insects. Previously not a fan of insects, conversations with Theraulaz helped Bonabeau visualize a mathematical connection between an ant’s distributed model of problem solving and his own work in computing and communications networks.

In the last decade, Bonabeau’s studies centered on how technology can push the limits of human decision-making in a complex, decentralized and unpredictable world; studies spurred by a serendipitous exchange about social insects: ants, bees, wasps and termites.

Bonabeau has authored more than 150 scientific articles, three books and is a co-inventor on 18 granted patents. He’s applied his approach to diverse challenges, from genetic algorithms that drive design evolution to self-organized systems, such as unmanned aerial vehicles. His work has also served the U.S. Navy, probing for points of failure in control systems for warships.

Bonabeau has also invested in innovative approaches to higher education. In addition to his work at ASU, he is the founding dean of computational sciences at The Minerva Schools at Keck Graduate Institute, Claremont Colleges, a residential campus experience combined with online classrooms and an active learning approach informed by the science of learning. Prior to this, Bonabeau founded Icosystem Corporation, a research and development firm and technology incubator and was the CEO of Eurobios, a joint venture with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young to apply the science of complex adaptive systems to business issues.

Bonabeau received his doctorate in theoretical physics from Paris-Sud University Orsay and is an alumnus of Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications in France.

Companies

• Chief Scientific Officer Telepathy Labs (2018)
• Professor of Practice, SFI-ASU Center for Biosocial Complexity Arizona State University (2015)
• Chairman Icosystem (2001)
• Chairman Icosystem
• Mentor (Startup Incubator) Singularity University (2016 — 2017)
• Dean of Global Affairs Minerva Schools at KGI (2016 — 2016)
• Dean, College of Computational Sciences Minerva Schools at KGI (2013 — 2015)
• Practitioner Fellow Stanford University (2013 — 2014)
• CEO Icosystem (2004 — 2012)

Education

• Masters Télécom Paris (1990 — 1992)
• Masters Paris-Sud University (Paris XI) (1990 — 1991)
• Bachelor of Science (BSc) Lycee Hoche (1985 — 1987)