John H. Holland, professor of electrical engineering and computer science and of psychology, has been chosen as the 1993 Russel Lecturer.
The annual lectureship is the highest honor the University gives to senior faculty members. Holland was nominated for the honor by the U-M Research Club and was confirmed by the Regents at their November meeting. He will deliver the Russel Lecture at 4 p.m. March 16 in Rackham Amphitheater.
Holland, who received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship last June, is an expert on cognition and artificial intelligence. He studies complex adaptive systems—constantly evolving, changing and interacting mechanisms that control everything from how people learn, to how advanced computers process information, to global economics and politics.
Holland, who joined the U-M faculty in 1959, received the Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award in 1987 and the Louis E. Levy Medal of the Franklin Institute in 1961.
He is a fellow and member of the board of advisers for the Santa Fe Institute, a private organization dedicated to interdisciplinary scientific research and education. He also is a consultant to Los Alamos National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory.
He received his M.A. in mathematics in 1954 and his Ph.D. in computer science in 1959, both from the U-M.
