Professor of Computer Science and Biology, The University of New Mexico

Melanie E. Moses is a Professor of Computer Science and Biology at the University of New Mexico and an External Faculty Member at the Santa Fe Institute. She earned a B.S. from Stanford University in Symbolic Systems and a Ph.D. in Biology from UNM. Her interdisciplinary research crosses the boundaries of Computer Science and Biology by modeling search processes in complex adaptive systems such as ant colonies and immune systems, and most recently the immune response to the virus that causes COVID-19. She uses bio-inspired design of swarms of robots to can autonomously cooperate with each other and adapt to monitor environmental conditions, currently focused on monitoring the gas emissions from volcanoes. She has mentored dozens of graduate and undergraduate students and led projects including NM CSforAll, the NASA Swarmathon, and the Google ExploreCSR Swarmathon:TNG to engage thousands of women and members of underrepresented groups in computer science from high school through graduate school. She co-founded the UNM-SFI Working Group on Algorithmic Justice, is part of the UNM ADVANCE program to support the success of women faculty in STEM, and she currently serves on the Computing Research Association’s Computing Community Consortium and the board of CRA-Widening Participation.