Lee Altenberg

Altenberg received his B.A. in genetics in 1980 at the University of California, Berkeley with an honors thesis advised by Glenys Thomson on the theory of frequency-dependent selection.{{cite journal |last1=Altenberg |first1=Lee |title=Chaos from Linear Frequency-Dependent Selection |journal=American Naturalist |date=1991 |volume=138 |issue=1 |pages=51–68 |doi=10.1086/285204 |s2cid=84389673 }} He received his Ph.D. in biological sciences in 1985 at Stanford University with advisor Marcus W. Feldman with a dissertation that unified models of modifier gene evolution.{{cite book |last1=Altenberg |first1=Lee |title=A Generalization of Theory on the Evolution of Modifier Genes |date=1984 |publisher=University Microfilms |location=Stanford University |pages=237 |citeseerx=10.1.1.187.5507}}

Altenberg held postdoctoral fellowships at Stanford University, North Carolina State University, and Duke University. While a postdoctoral fellow at Duke University, Altenberg offered the first course on evolutionary computation to be given there. When his father became ill with cryoglobulinemia, he moved with him to Hawaii for the warm temperatures.{{cite web |last1=Dike |first1=Dr. Diane |title=Dad's Journey with Cryoglobulinemia, Dr. Lee Altenberg |url=https://www.blogtalkradio.com/dr-diane-dike/2013/02/22/dads-journey-with-cryoglobulinemia-dr-lee-altenberg |website=Blog Talk Radio |accessdate=19 September 2019 |location=Eagle, CO |format=Video |date=22 February 2013}} In 2002 Altenberg was appointed associate professor of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. He again offered the first courses in evolutionary computation to be given there. In 2013 Altenberg was a Long-Term Visitor at the Mathematical Biosciences Institute at Ohio State University and in 2014–2016 was a Senior Fellow at the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research. The University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents approved his promotion to Full Professor in 2020.{{cite web |title=UH 2020 tenure and promotion list |url=https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2020/06/22/uh-2020-tenure-and-promotion-list/ |website=University of Hawaiʻi News |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi |accessdate=28 July 2020 |date=June 22, 2020}} Since 2013, Altenberg has been a Research Scholar at the Ronin Institute.{{Cite web|title=Lee Altenberg's Web Home Page|url=https://dynamics.org/|access-date=2021-03-21|website=dynamics.org}}{{Cite web|title=Research Scholar profile at the Ronin Institute|url=http://ronininstitute.org/research-scholars/lee-altenberg/|website=Ronin Institute|access-date=2021-03-21|language=en-US}}

Altenberg's research focuses on uncovering the mathematical relationships within the dynamics of biological evolution, and evolutionary algorithms. He is particularly interested in higher order phenomena such as the evolution of evolvability, the evolution of genetic information transmission, and the evolution of the genotype–phenotype map. His chief accomplishments have been (1) to unify the theory for the evolution of genetic systems (recombination and mutation rates) by embedding them in the space of inclusive inheritance, which includes spatial as well as cultural information, and (2) to develop the concept of the variational properties of organisms as phenomena subject to evolutionary dynamics. This includes the discovery of mechanisms that lead to the evolution of evolvability, and modularity in the genotype–phenotype map.

The mathematical inclusiveness of his theoretical work has made it applicable to problems in evolutionary computation.{{cite web |title=Lee Altenberg Biography |url=https://ieeetv.ieee.org/history/interview-with-lee-altenberg-2017-cis-oral-history-project/speaker-281 |website=2017: CIS Oral History Project |publisher=IEEE.TV |accessdate=15 September 2019}}{{dead link|date=July 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} His work on the evolution of biological information transmission has required development of new spectral theorems for linear operators, including a unification of reaction-diffusion theory predicting the evolution of slow dispersal with the Reduction Principle predictions for models of mutation, recombination and migration rate evolution.{{cite journal |last1=Altenberg |first1=Lee |title=Resolvent Positive Linear Operators Exhibit the Reduction Phenomenon |journal= Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|date=2012 |volume=109 |issue=10 |pages=3705–3710 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1113833109 |pmid=22357763 |pmc=3309728 |bibcode=2012PNAS..109.3705A |arxiv=1108.4546 |doi-access=free}} He has applied spectral theory to understand the evolution of mutational robustness.{{cite arXiv |last1=Altenberg |first1=Lee |title=Fundamental Properties of the Evolution of Mutational Robustness |date=2015 |pages=1508.07866 |eprint=1508.07866|class=q-bio.PE}}

Altenberg introduced a number of concepts which have been adopted in several fields:

• introduction of the Price equation into evolutionary computation theory{{cite book |last1=Altenberg |first1=Lee |editor1-last=Whitley |editor1-first=Darrell L. |editor2-last=Vose |editor2-first=Michael D. |title=The Schema Theorem and Price's Theorem |date=1995 |publisher=Morgan Kaufmann |location=San Mateo, CA |isbn=978-1-55860-356-1 |pages=23–49 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9781558603561500066 |accessdate=24 November 2019 |language=English}}
• mechanisms for the evolution of evolvability and modularity{{cite book |author1=Lee Altenberg |authorlink1=Lee Altenberg |editor1-last=Kinnear |editor1-first=Kenneth |title=The Evolution of Evolvability in Genetic Programming |date=1994 |publisher=MIT Press |location=Cambridge, MA |isbn=9780262515535 |pages=47–74 |url=https://www.santafe.edu/research/results/working-papers/the-evolution-of-evolvability-in-genetic-programmi}}{{cite book |last1=Altenberg |first1=Lee |title=Proceedings of the First IEEE Conference on Evolutionary Computation IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence ICEC-94 |chapter=Evolving better representations through selective genome growth |date=1994 |volume=1 |pages=182–187 |doi=10.1109/ICEC.1994.350019 |isbn=0-7803-1899-4 |s2cid=5140043}}{{cite book |last1=Altenberg |first1=Lee |editor1-last=Sebald |editor1-first=A.V. |title=Emergent phenomena in genetic programming |date=1994 |publisher=World Scientific Publishing |isbn=9810218109 |pages=233–241}}{{cite book |last=Altenberg |first=Lee |year=1995 |chapter=Genome growth and the evolution of the genotype–phenotype map |editor1-last=Banzhaf |editor1-first=Wolfgang |editor2-last=Eeckman |editor2-first=Frank H. |title=Evolution and Biocomputation: Computational Models of Evolution |series=Lecture Notes in Computer Science |volume=899 |pages=205–259 |location=Berlin; New York |publisher=Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg |doi=10.1007/3-540-59046-3_11 |isbn=978-3-540-59046-0|s2cid=10378755 }}{{Cite journal|last1=Wagner|first1=Günter P.|last2=Altenberg|first2=Lee|date=June 1996|journal=Evolution|volume=50|issue=3|pages=967–976|doi=10.1111/j.1558-5646.1996.tb02339.x|pmid=28565291|issn=0014-3820|title=Complex Adaptations and the Evolution of Evolvability|s2cid=21040413|doi-access=free}}
• the conceptual distinction of generative and variational properties of the genotype–phenotype map{{cite journal |last1=Armbruster |first1=W Scott |title=Integrated phenotypes: understanding trait covariation in plants and animals |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |date=2014 |volume=369 |issue=1649 |pages=20130245 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2013.0245 |pmid=25002693 |pmc=4084533}}
• brood selection in evolutionary algorithms{{cite journal |last1=Uy |first1=Nguyen Quang |title=Semantically-based crossover in genetic programming: application to real-valued symbolic regression |journal=Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines |date=2011 |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=91–119 |publisher=Springer|doi=10.1007/s10710-010-9121-2 |hdl=10197/3528 |s2cid=901032 |url=http://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/12336/1/Galvan_Semantically_2011.pdf}}
• generalization of Stuart Kauffman's NK Landscapes, applied to technological evolution{{cite journal |author1=Johann Peter Murmann |author2=Koen Frenken |title=Toward a systematic framework for research on dominant designs, technological innovations, and industrial change |journal=Research Policy |date=2006 |volume=35 |issue=7 |pages=925–952 |url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/055f/316d8348b59185e727e3447bd54e82dcf385.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190921234956/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/055f/316d8348b59185e727e3447bd54e82dcf385.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2019-09-21 |publisher=Elsevier|doi=10.1016/j.respol.2006.04.011 |hdl=1874/387421 |s2cid=10623052}}
• generalization of the Reduction Principle to infinite dimensional spaces, which unified reaction-diffusion models for the evolution of dispersal, and has been applied to epidemic models.{{cite journal |author1=Gao, Daozhou |author2=Dong, Chao-Ping |title=Fast diffusion inhibits disease outbreaks |journal=Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society |date=2020 |volume=148 |issue=4 |pages=1709–1722 |doi=10.1090/proc/14868|arxiv=1907.12229 |s2cid=198968008}}

• A history of Leland Stanford's forgotten advocacy of worker cooperatives{{cite journal |last1=Altenberg |first1=Lee |title=Beyond Capitalism: Leland Stanford's Forgotten Vision |journal=Sandstone and Tile |date=1990 |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=8–20 |url=http://dynamics.org/Altenberg/PAPERS/BCLSFV/ |accessdate=16 September 2019 |publisher=Stanford Historical Society |location=Stanford, California |language=English}}{{cite news |last1=Schott-Rosenfield |first1=Abigail |title=History Corner: Leland Stanford's vision of Stanford |url=https://www.stanforddaily.com/2014/12/23/leland-vision-of-stanford/ |accessdate=14 September 2019 |publisher=Stanford Daily |date=23 December 2014}}
• Light pollution ordinance for Maui, Hawai`i{{cite news |last1=Hurley |first1=Timothy |title=Maui star-lovers want dark skies |url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Jan/24/ln/ln12a.html |accessdate=14 September 2019 |publisher=Honolulu Advertiser |date=24 January 2002}}
• Preservation of lowland dry native forest on Maui, Hawai`i{{cite news |last1=San Nicolas |first1=Claudine |title=1,400-unit Maui project comes under attack |url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/May/16/br/br9021864537.html |accessdate=16 September 2019 |publisher=Maui News |date=16 May 2007}}
• During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic he has served with the Hawai`i Pandemic Applied Modeling Workgroup.{{cite web |title=Hawai'i Pandemic Applied Modeling Workgroup |url=https://hipam.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716102550/http://hipam.org/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=July 16, 2011 |website=HiPAM |access-date=25 May 2022}}

• California delegate to the National Youth Science Camp in 1975{{cite web |last1=Altenberg |first1=Lee |title=Curriculum vitae |url=https://dynamics.org/Altenberg/CV/ |website=dynamics.org |accessdate=16 September 2019}}
• University of California Regents Scholar 1975–1979
• Elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 1979
• Bachelor of Arts with Distinction in General Scholarship, University of California, Berkeley, 1980
• Stanford University School of Medicine Dean's Postdoctoral Fellow 1985–1986
• Chair of the Native Hawaiian Plant Society on Maui 2005–2007
• Onipa`a Award in 2011,{{cite news |title=DLNR chief to speak at Sierra Club annual meeting |url=http://lahainanews.com/page/content.detail/id/501739/DLNR-chief-to-speak-at-Sierra-Club-annual-meeting.html?nav=13 |accessdate=14 September 2019 |publisher=Lahaina News}} conferred by the Hawai`i Chapter of the Sierra Club, for his work in getting legislation passed to prevent light pollution on Maui, and to preserve an endangered Hawaiian lowland dry forest habitat on Maui in perpetuity.
• Senior Fellow of the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research 2014–2016
• IEEE Computational Intelligence Society Oral History Project interview in 2017{{cite web |author1=Rudolf Seising |author2=Lee Altenberg |title=Interview with Lee Altenberg, 2017: CIS Oral History Project |url=https://ieeetv.ieee.org/history/interview-with-lee-altenberg-2017-cis-oral-history-project |website=IEEE Computational Intelligence Society |date=6 April 2018 |publisher=IEEE |accessdate=16 September 2019 |location=Honolulu, Hawai`i |format=Video |quote=An interview with CIS member Lee Altenberg, recorded at the 2017 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence (IEEE SSCI 2017). Interview by Rudolf Seising.}}
• Member of the Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi) in 2020{{cite web |title=FQXi Membership |url=https://fqxi.org/members |publisher=Foundational Questions Institute |accessdate=21 April 2020}}

Altenberg is a lifetime member of the:

• International Linear Algebra Society
• Society for Mathematical Biology

{{Reflist}}

• [https://dynamics.org/Altenberg/ Lee Altenberg's homepage]
• [https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=e6zMVywAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&pagesize=100 Google scholar profile]

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