David Doty

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A mathematician, like a painter or a poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas. --G. H. Hardy

Contact Information David (Dave) Doty Computing Innovation Fellow/Postdoctoral Scholar in Computing and Mathematical Sciences DNA and Natural Algorithms Group Computing and Mathematical Sciences California Institute of Technology Office: 100 Annenberg Mailing Address: Moore Laboratories 67W 391 S. Holliston Ave. Pasadena, California 91125-0001, USA Phone: +1 402 590 5333

Research Interests

• Theory of Nanoscale Algorithmic Self-Assembly and Biomolecular Computation
• Theoretical Computer Science; particularly Algorithmic Information Theory and Computational Complexity

I am interested in applying the theory of computation to problems in biomolecular computation and nanoscale algorithmic self-assembly. I have worked in algorithmic self-assembly, such as the tile assembly model developed by Erik Winfree, and other models of molecular computation such as DNA circuits. I am interested in establishing experimental collaborations with physical scientists to implement biomolecular computation.

Formerly (and possibly in the future) I studied methods of measuring information and the extent to which computation on objects is capable of altering their information content. My research in this direction is in an area in which theoretical computer science intersects with fractal geometry and information theory, known as effective fractal dimension, developed by Jack Lutz. I am also interested in another area known as computational depth, which is a different notion of algorithmic information developed by Charles Bennett.