Research Magazine 2009

Binghamton
ReseaRch
B i n g h a m t o n U n i v e r s i t y / S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y o f N e w Yo r k / 2 0 0 9

sound
strategy:
a symphony of finely tuned ideas
helps raise the curtain on
big breakthroughs

In thIs Issue:

Youth violence in the
post-columbine era

self-interest and the economY

helping parkinson’s patients

pg. 20 Earnest money:
Experimental economics puts the world of finance
under a microscope

Binghamton ReseaRch
B i n g h a m t o n U n i v e r s i t y / S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y o f N e w Yo r k / 2 0 0 9

co Nt eN t S
2 20 54
about Binghamton Research earnest money aging gracefully
Experimental economics puts Binghamton University leads the
3 the world of finance under a way in meeting growing demand
microscope for social workers who specialize
messages
in geriatrics
36
4 58
search smarts
the Parkinson’s predicament a new dream
New technology could leave
for 21st-century science
The side effects of treating Web ‘crawlers’ in the dust
this devastating disease can It’s time to abandon the
40
be almost as awful as the search for a single principle
illness itself cultivating entrepreneurs to explain the world
10 Binghamton proves to be fertile
62
ground for technology transfer
merchants, moneylenders in Brief
44
and middlemen
New view of Jewish history Whole lot of shaking
offers understanding of going on
capitalism, anti-Semitism
Tiny devices may lead to
advances for technology ranging
from cell phones to air bags

f e at U r eS

14 24 30 48
Binghamton University / Binghamton ReseaRch / 2009

From social Sound strategy Partnering with Industry allies
networking to parents
cover story: Composer The Center of Excellence
swarm intelligence dissects his creative process turns corporate partners into
Nurse on a mission to
catalysts for discovery
‘rescue childhood’
Research shows how
complex systems rule
everyday life

1

ABoUT BINghAmToN RESEARCh

new York state center of excellence Center for the Teaching of American History (CTAH)
Small Scale Systems Integration and Packaging Center Director Thomas Dublin
Director Bahgat Sammakia
Center for Writers (CW)
organized research centers Director Maria Mazziotti Gillan
Center for Advanced Information Technologies (CAIT)
Clinical Science and Engineering Research Center (CSERC)
Director Victor Skormin
Director Kenneth McLeod
Center for Advanced Microelectronics Manufacturing (CAMM)
Institute for Materials Research (IMR)
Director M. Stanley Whittingham
Center for Advanced Sensors and Environmental Systems (CASE)
Institute of Biomedical Technology (IBT)
Director Omowunmi Sadik
Director John G. Baust
Center for Applied Community Research and Development (CACRD)
Integrated Electronics Engineering Center (IEEC)
Co-Directors Pamela Mischen and Allison Alden
Center for Cognitive and Psycholinguistic Sciences (CaPS)
Linux Technology Center (LTC)
Director Cynthia Connine
Director Merwyn Jones
Center for Computing Technologies (CCT)
Public Archaeology Facility (PAF)
Director Kanad Ghose
Director Nina Versaggi
Center for Development and Behavioral Neuroscience (CDBN)
Roger L. Kresge Center for Nursing Research (KCNR)
Director Norman Spear
Interim Director Ann Myers
Center for the Historical Study of Women and Gender (CHSWG)
institutes for advanced studies
Co-Directors Kathryn Kish Sklar and Thomas Dublin
Fernand Braudel Center for the Study of Economies, Historical Systems,
Center for Integrated Watershed Studies (CIWS) and Civilizations (FBC)
Director John Titus Director Richard E. Lee
Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Philosophy, Interpretation, and Culture (CPIC) Institute for Asia and Asian Diaspora Studies (IAADS)
Director Maria Lugones Director John Chaffee
Center for Leadership Studies (CLS) Institute for Evolutionary Studies (EvoS)
Director Francis Yammarino Director David Sloan Wilson
Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (CEMERS) Institute of Global Cultural Studies (IGCS)
Director Karen-edis Barzman Director Ali Mazrui
Center for Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education (CSMTE) Watson Institute for Systems Excellence (WISE)
Director Thomas O’Brien Director Krishnaswami Srihari

Editorial Staff Binghamton University
editor Lois B. Defleur
Rachel Coker President
art Direction and Design Gerald Sonnenfeld
Martha P. Terry Vice President for Research
Photography Marcia r. craner
Jonathan Cohen, iStock Images Vice President for External Affairs
contributing Writers
Rachel Coker, Eric Dietrich, Merrill Douglas, Katherine Karlson, Binghamton Research is published annually by the Division
Anne Miller, Kathleen Ryan O’Connor of Research, with cooperation from the office of University
communications and marketing.
copy editing
Katie Ellis, John Wojcio PostmasteR: send address changes to: Binghamton
Research, office of Research advancement, Po Box 6000,
Illustrations

Binghamton, new York 13902-6000.
iStock Images
Binghamton University is strongly committed to affirmative action.
We offer access to services and recruit students and employees
without regard to race, color, gender, religion, age, disability, marital
status, sexual orientation or national origin.

www.binghamton.edu
research.binghamton.edu

2

mESSAgES

a message from the president
When scholars from different fields collaborate in deep and meaningful ways, they often
arrive at new perspectives and challenge commonly accepted views. At Binghamton
University, these efforts include partnerships of engineers and management experts as
well as poets and musicians. It requires commitment as well as time for faculty members
with such varied backgrounds to develop meaningful projects and a certain kind of
LOIS B. DEFLEUR
courage to go beyond the familiar terrain of one’s own discipline. The University’s goal
is to nurture the initial phases of these projects with campus grants because we believe in the potential and
rewards of multidisciplinary work.

At their best, these collaborations reward the risk-takers with unexpected innovations and even artistic
breakthroughs. This was the case last year, as faculty composer Paul goldstaub and martin Bidney, professor
emeritus of English, worked to set poetry to music. They allowed the research magazine to follow them through
the creative process, from basic recordings of martin reading poems he had translated to Paul’s revelation that
the poems could be performed in song as a dialogue between people in a relationship. The composition will
come to life in a concert of new music on campus this year.

I hope you will enjoy the opportunity to accompany them on their musical journey, just as I hope you will enjoy
the sampling of other faculty research and scholarly work presented in our magazine.

a message from the vice president for research
Creative people and innovative ideas come together every day at Binghamton University, resulting in a symphony
of discovery that’s making itself heard across New York state and around the world. our faculty members are
conducting research that may one day ease the troubling side effects of Parkinson’s disease treatment, protect
your laptop computer from damage if it falls and revolutionize the way you search for information on the Web.
other experts are challenging commonly accepted views of topics such as economic history, youth violence
and caring for the elderly. one especially exciting interdisciplinary collaboration promises to change the way we
understand decision making and teams.

Through the office of Technology Transfer and Innovation Partnerships and our unique industry collaborations
— as well as through publishing, teaching and performing — the University community
brings these breakthroughs to a wider audience. on that note, I’m pleased to say that our

faculty members received a record number of new patents last year. We also recorded
a nearly 60 percent increase in licensing revenue.

Binghamton research expenditures grew by 3 percent in 2007-08, bucking a national
trend of flat or even falling figures. In addition, awards to our researchers rose by more
than 20 percent last year. It’s all evidence of our sound strategy at work.
GERALD SONNENFELD

3


4

The
Parkinson’s
predicament
ThE SIdE EffECTS

of TREATINg ThIS

dEvASTATINg dISEASE

CAN BE AlmoST

AS AWfUl AS ThE

IllNESS ITSElf.

oNE BINghAmToN

RESEARChER hoPES

To ChANgE ThAT.

5

Christopher Bishop

christopher Bishop has a novel theory about
how to suppress the involuntary movements
associated with Parkinson’s disease. his idea
could revolutionize the way patients respond

to the drug that has been the gold standard in
treating the disease for more than 50 years and
lead to vast improvements in the quality of life
for the roughly 1 million americans who suffer
from Parkinson’s.

6

ThE SITUATIoN IS

AN INCREASINglY

URgENT mEdICAl

CoNCERN; 50,000

moRE AmERICANS

ARE dIAgNoSEd

WITh PARkINSoN’S

EACh YEAR.

Parkinson’s disease patients have trouble this deficit of dopamine can be reversed
with movement. they move slowly. they with treatment using a compound called
have rigidity in their limbs. they have L-DoPa.
balance problems and tremors.
the brain converts L-DoPa into
these cardinal symptoms are a result of dopamine, which is why it’s an effective
a deficit of dopamine in the brain. replacement therapy for patients. and
for five to 10 years, this treatment works

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that’s well.
essential for movement; it also plays an
important role in behavior, cognition “the problem is that Parkinson’s is a
and sleep. progressive disease,” said Bishop, as-
sistant professor of psychology at Bing-
in Parkinson’s patients, neurons that hamton University. “You lose more and
make dopamine die. scientists still aren’t more of these neurons as time goes on,
sure why; genetic factors are believed to so therapeutically, doses of L-DoPa
play only a small role. must increase.”

7

many patients suffer troubling side it’s not always at the forefront of your
effects as the dosage increases. mind, but it’s something you can get to
if you need to,” Bishop said.“in the same
“By year 10,” Bishop said, “as many as way, your ability to produce a movement
90 percent of patients will start to suffer is a memory. it’s a motor memory, but
from motor fluctuations and something it’s a memory nonetheless.
called L-DoPa-induced dyskinesia.
so you go from a state of no treatment “We are beginning to believe that
where you’re not moving well, to a state dyskinesia is actually the inability to
where the drug is working well and suppress motor memories as a result of
you’re moving fluidly, to a point where the drug’s stimulation. these abnormal
L-DoPa doses are very high and you’re movements may be an expression of
producing these abnormal, involuntary motor memories that can’t be shut
movements.” down.”

think of the actor michael J. Fox’s recent one possible treatment relates to glu-
television appearances. the excessive tamate, a neurotransmitter in the brain
movements he displays aren’t a result that can play a role in these memory
of his Parkinson’s disease, but rather a processes, helping to lay down new
symptom of the L-DoPa therapy. pathways for motor memories.

“it’s this inability to suppress movement Bishop has developed a way to look at
that’s a real problem for patients later dyskinesia as it’s occurring and measure
on in the disease’s progression,” Bishop glutamate levels in different parts of
said. the brain. “that is a huge leap forward,”
he said, “because now we can make an
and patients can’t simply stop taking association between the behavior and
L-DoPa, Bishop said. if they do, they the glutamate levels. and we’re doing it
face a nearly “frozen” life with incredibly in a very specific area of the brain. it’s a
limited ability to move. very powerful technique.”

it’s unusual that there hasn’t been a Kathy steece-collier, an associate
change in the primary treatment for professor in the Department of neurol-
Parkinson’s in five decades, Bishop ogy at the University of cincinnati,
said. in that time, there have been huge said “surprisingly little” research effort
advancements in the ways other neuro- to date has taken the direction Bishop
logic disorders are treated. is pursuing.
treatment. Bishop hopes to find out how
With Parkinson’s, there are still a number “chris’ approach has been to delve these compounds work — and what
of big unanswered questions. the cause into novel molecular mechanisms,” she dyskinesia really is.
of the disease is one; how dyskinesia said. “these mechanisms have a strong
develops is another. potential to provide insight into new early experimentation has supported
clinical approaches that could prolong Bishop’s theories, showing a reduction in
Bishop and colleagues at Wayne state therapeutic treatment and lessen side dyskinesia as the serotonin compound is
University’s medical school and the Vet- effects associated with L-DoPa therapy administered.
erans administration hospital in chicago in Parkinson’s disease.”

hope to find a way to reduce dyskinesia “Dr. Bishop’s research is important be-
and suppress these movements. in 2008, Bishop and his team received cause he has focused on a brain chemical
a $1.33 million, five-year grant from transmission system that may represent
“We’re asking, ‘is dyskinesia abnormal the national institute of neurological a new therapeutic target for treatment
learning?’ there are parts of the brain Disorders and stroke (ninDs), part of of L-DoPa-induced dyskinesias,” said
that allow us to store memories. and the national institutes of health. the Beth-anne sieber, a program director
that involves laying down new neuronal funding will allow Bishop and his team at the national institute of neurologi-
pathways that become permanent. You to study serotonin compounds that cal Disorders and stroke. “his ninDs-
can now go and retrieve that information. reduce glutamate following L-DoPa funded studies suggest that activation of

8

About PArkinson’s diseAse
Parkinson’s disease belongs to a
group of conditions called motor-
system disorders, which are the result
of the loss of dopamine-producing
brain cells. The four primary
symptoms of Parkinson’s are tremor,
or trembling in hands, arms, legs,
jaw and face; rigidity, or stiffness of
the limbs and trunk; bradykinesia, or
slowness of movement; and postural
instability, or impaired balance and
coordination.
a receptor for the neurotransmitter sero-
Parkinson’s usually affects people over the age of 50. Early symptoms
tonin can block overactive brain signals
are subtle and occur gradually. The diagnosis is based on medical history
and dampen involuntary movements.”
and a neurological examination. The disease can be difficult to diagnose
accurately. Roughly 50,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson’s every
Bishop said he believes L-DoPa treat-
year.
ment will remain in the mix of therapies,
even if other advances such as stem-cell
There are many theories about the cause of Parkinson’s disease, but none
transplants advance to a point where
has ever been proved. At present, there is no cure for Parkinson’s, but
they can be used regularly.

medications provide many patients dramatic relief from the symptoms.
the situation is an increasingly urgent
The disease is both chronic, meaning it persists over a long period of time,
medical concern; 50,000 more americans
and progressive, meaning its symptoms grow worse over time. Although
are diagnosed with Parkinson’s each
year. “that’s only going to increase as some people become severely disabled, others experience only minor motor
our population ages,” Bishop said. “this disruptions.
is not something that’s going away.”
Source: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
— Rachel Coker

9

erchants,
oneylenders
iddlemen
NEw viEw of JEwiSh hiStory
offErS UNdErStaNdiNg of
capitaliSm, aNti-SEmitiSm

in developed countries today,
people argue over the roles and
rights of low-skilled foreign
laborers. “they’re crucial to
our economy,” some maintain.

others say, “We need them,
but just as guest workers.”
or: “Kick them out before
they drain our economy and
destroy our way of life.”

10

At the Usurers, Edgar Bundy

For hundreds of years, europeans waged Political thinkers through the years have
similar debates, but not about the pros debated the economic role of Jews. Yet
and cons of allowing poor immigrants to Jews who study Jewish history have long
scrub floors and harvest tomatoes. they avoided the subject of economics, said
argued about the benefits and dangers of Jonathan Karp, associate professor of
allowing Jews to serve in their countries history and Judaic studies at Binghamton
as merchants, moneylenders and other University.“these historians didn’t want
kinds of economic middlemen. Did Jews to contribute to the stereotype, to the
take those roles because they were at negative image of Jews as merchants or

heart a commercial people, or because Jews as shylocks,” he said. in the past,
they weren’t allowed any other kind of when historians did address the subject,
work? Was capitalism a progressive force they approached it as marxists and
or a corrupting one, and what did the Zionists who hoped to transform Jews
growth of a market society imply about into workers and farmers.
the Jews’ purported flair for commerce?
if a country let Jews run businesses, however, Karp said, it’s impossible to
should it also let them own land and understand the history of anti-semitism,
hold political office? or of capitalism, without taking a non-

11

Jonathan Karp

ideological look at political theories on trade, keeping control out of the hands which to explore capitalism. Dohm felt
Jewish economics. of foreign merchants. although trade that a commercial society promised
might make Venetian Jews wealthy, greater equality and freedom, but he also
Karp does just that in a new book, he said, unlike other alien groups they feared that capitalism might undermine
The Politics of Jewish Commerce: posed no threat to the state because they traditional values.
Economic Thought and Emancipation in wanted no political rights.
Europe, 1638-1848. examining writings Karp’s book is significant, in part because
on politics and economics published in contrast, British writer John toland he tackles a subject that many scholars
throughout the period, he traces argued in 1714 that Jews should be have avoided and in part because his

evolving ideas about Jews’ traditional allowed to work in many spheres research is so broad in scope, said
functions in the economy and, based on beyond commerce. Jews were inclined adam sutcliffe, lecturer in early modern
those functions, what rights they should by heritage to make good citizens, he history at King’s college London. “he
have in society. said, and they should be naturalized as ambitiously takes on a long period of
British subjects. more than two centuries, straddling
For example, simone Luzzatto, a the early modern/late modern divide,”
Venetian rabbi and scholar, argued in in 1781, the Prussian christian Wilhelm sutcliffe said of Karp’s book. “this is an
1638 that local Jews were willing and Dohm wrote a book sympathetic toward important strength of his study, enabling
able to take on the risks of foreign Jews that used them as a lens through him to provide a deep exploration of

12

arp’S Book iS
SigNificaNt, iN
part BEcaUSE hE Jews, commerce
And culture
tacklES a SUBJEct
Jonathan Karp is delving further
that maNy ScholarS into historical thought on Jewish
economics this academic year
havE avoidEd aNd as a fellow at the University
of Pennsylvania’s Herbert D.
iN part BEcaUSE hiS Katz Center for Advanced
Judaic Studies. Each year, the
rESEarch iS So Broad center assembles scholars
iN ScopE. from throughout the world to
research and discuss an aspect
— Adam Sutcliffe, King’s College London of Jewish culture. Collaborating
with two other researchers, Karp
helped write the proposal for the
current topic, “Jews, Commerce
and Culture.”
the roots of the emergence of the more the holocaust. and it’s important to
familiar economic associations with Jews understand the debate, because it points
While in residence during
in the period since 1848.” to the fact that anti-semitism didn’t
2008-09, Karp is studying the
spring only from religious prejudice or
Protestant Reformation, which
Karp said he focused on the years 1638 distaste for moneylenders, Karp said.
occurred just before the period
to 1848 because that period marks it also grew out of ambivalence toward
an important transition in thought capitalism. he covers in his recent book.
about the economic roles of Jews. “at His aim is to look at how that
the beginning,” he said, “writers and Because Jews gravitated to commerce, Christian reform movement
debaters were saying, ‘sure, bring the and because people weren’t sure changed the discourse on
Jews in. Let them do their magic. they whether commerce was a good or
Jewish economic identity.
neither want, nor will we give them, any bad force, even when Jews seemed to
Other scholars in the program
political rights.’ Jews were a safe bet as assimilate, people weren’t sure they
specialize in a wide range of
long as they remained non-citizens.” could trust them. “they’d say, ‘aha! they
subjects, such as Jews in 16th-
are behaving as Jews, because they are
century Mediterranean trade,
But the French Revolution changed the behaving commercially. these people
American business history,
rules. Under the new order, in many may share our language and culture, but
economic life in Israel and the
countries, a person who followed lo- their predominance in commerce shows
cal customs and pledged loyalty to the that they have their own agenda, that economic aspects of the Hasidic
state could become a citizen. in theory, they are a fifth column.’” it did not occur movement.
Jews could gain political rights, but not if to people who thought this way, Karp
It’s about time Jewish historians
they still stood apart as a merchant class. said, that Jews’ commercial orientation
“the fact that Jews were anomalous in was the result of centuries of habituation gave more thought to economic
their occupations was a serious obstacle, and restriction. life, Karp said. “One scholar
in the minds of many statesmen and described Jewish history as a
philosophers, to their acculturation, or For this reason, the focus on traditional

head without a body,” he said.
their subordination to the discipline of roles and stereotypes also makes
“It’s as if the material, physical,
citizenship,” Karp said. society faced a Jewish economics a perilous area for
life-sustaining part has been
dilemma: “either we have to kick them scholarship today.“it’s very tricky to talk
generally ignored, and only the
out, or we have to transform them and about the subject objectively, without
stuff that goes on in the head
reform them, so that they’ll no longer be giving perceived ammunition to anti-
is what anybody pays attention
a commercial people.” semitism,” Karp said. “that’s why it’s
to. We’re trying to recover the
such an explosive topic.”
Jewish body.”
that dilemma lasted well beyond the
— Merrill Douglas
period of the book — in fact, until

13

From
social
networking
to

intelligence
research shows
how complex systems
rule everyday life

a new area of research — fittingly called
“complexity science” — embraces the notion
that an ant colony and the human brain,

the stock market and Facebook all have
something in common. all are complex
systems, basically huge networks made up
of individual components whose behavior
is difficult to predict.

14


15

a deeper understanding of these sys- of course there are plenty of computer
tems’ role in nature — and the emer- science- and engineer-types in coco,
gence of computer science tools sophis- but they work alongside faculty such as
ticated enough to analyze them — offers shelley Dionne, an associate professor
scientists a more realistic framework for in Binghamton’s school of manage-
solving today’s most vexing problems, ment. she’s an mBa-PhD who got her
from global warming to ethnic conflict. first taste of management not as a bud-
ding Wall streeter, but during a dietetic
“the rise of complexity science is not management rotation toward a degree
driven by researchers, but actually from in nutrition.
the complexity in people’s lives,” said
hiroki sayama, an assistant professor “each one of us is a unique mix,” she
in the Department of Bioengineering at said.
Binghamton University. “ten years ago,
a network didn’t make much sense.” she was eager to join the group, but
quickly discovered that when they finally
today networks and complex systems got face to face, all that interdisciplinary
are everywhere, and there are several joie de vivre didn’t come baggage-free.
university-based centers and journals
devoted exclusively to their study. “We had no idea how to talk to each
other,” Dionne said.
“it’s a fundamental conceptual shift,”
sayama said. in other words, they had swarm intelli-
gence while she had sWot, that classic
It’s a different world business tool of identifying strengths,
at Binghamton, an interdisciplinary weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
group founded in 2007 to study the
collective dynamics of complex sys- other members came to the table with
tems goes by the name coco. Perhaps similar diversity: Research interests in-
the most striking characteristic of the clude public administration, biomimet-
group is that instead of talking about an ics and environmental toxicology.
interdisciplinary approach, it lives and
breathes it. it took time, Dionne said. and, it turned
out, a lot of office supplies. “Week after
“there are many people who claim to week, drawing pictures on white boards
be interdisciplinary — it’s the computer until we were out of ink,” she said.
scientist working with the electrical en-
gineers,” sayama, coco’s director, said What emerged was a shared passion
with a laugh. for understanding group dynamics. the

Hiroki Sayama

16

computer scientists might be happily
creating swarm simulators or explain-
ing the latest in agent-based modeling,
“the rise of complexity
but, she too, could dive headfirst into
creating ways for businesses to survive
the shift from Dilbert days to dynamic
science is not driven by
global leadership.

researchers, but actually
“gone are the days i sit in my cubicle
alone for eight hours a day,”she said, de-
scribing today’s corporate environment.
from the complexity
“gone.”

in people’s lives.”
it is exactly that rapid-fire change of
today’s business climate that has shown
the pressing need for a new framework,
— Hiroki Sayama
said Ken thompson, a United Kingdom-
based expert in the area of bioteaming,
swarming and virtual enterprise net-
works and teams, which draws heavily
on the understanding of complex sys- responsiveness are king,” he said. “We
tems in nature. his most recent book is urgently need to find a new model
Bioteams: High Performance Teams Based which recognizes that organizations are
on Nature’s Most Successful Designs. not predictable systems, like clocks, but
unpredictable ecosystems, like living
traditional business teams rely too things. the natural place to look for this
heavily on a single dominant struc- model is nature itself with its numerous
ture — command and control, also examples of self-organizing systems and
known as individually led teams, he teams in ants, bees, dolphins, wolves,
said, drawing from the military. such an geese and many more.”
approach “served us well in the era of
mass production when costs, consistency one of sayama’s research goals is to cre-
and compliance were everything,” ate some way to self-organize heteroge-
thompson said. neous swarms with several distinct types
of particles into specific spacial patterns
But that model falls well short in today’s so one can evolve the internal mecha-
world full of “networks, dynamic alli- nism. he envisions a system in which,
ances, virtual collaborations — where collectively, robots can spontaneously
agility, innovation, added-value and create behaviors.


17

From ‘fringe’ to center stage
David schaffer, a member of coco and
a visiting research professor in the De-
“Gone are the days partment of Bioengineering who also
works as a research fellow at Philips Re-
search, connected with sayama through
i sit in my cubicle their shared belief that the concepts
from modern complexity theory have
alone for eight hours something to offer societal problems.
it’s an idea that didn’t seem to get much
traction in the wider world until recently,
a day. Gone.” he said.

so it must be satisfying for scientists
— Shelley Dionne such as schaffer, whose dissertation
was on genetic algorithms — something
once considered on the “lunatic fringe,”
he said — to see their ideas get so much
respect. today evolutionary computation
is seeping into every aspect of engineer-
“that’s the key idea of any complex ing and more applications are on the
system,” sayama said. “it’s very hard to horizon, he said.
predict.”
“i’m kind of the utopian thinker,” schaf-
But what’s not difficult to envision, es- fer said. “i think we can do better than
pecially for the younger generation, is we are doing.”
the concept that groups react differently
than individuals when part of a network, coco’s research focus is both “new and
he said. old,” said Yaneer Bar-Yam, professor and
president of the new england complex
think of today’s college students, saya- systems institute, a cambridge-based
ma said. they get up, check Facebook, nonprofit research and education insti-
send e-mails. their lives are all about tute. sayama did his post-doctoral work
connection. there and they still collaborate.

“they are already aware that everything it’s as old as the groundbreaking
is networked,” he said. “they already economic theory of adam smith’s
understand they are part of something “invisible hand,” put forth in the
bigger.” 1700s, and evolution itself, which of

18

course didn’t happen by one piece, Bar- infrastructure, both physical and social,
Yam said. and see the consequences unfold, some
unforeseen.
What’s new are the computer science-
based tools available for understanding it’s much the same in the real world.
and analyzing these ideas.
“Patterns develop within cities based on
“and hiroki is one of the pioneers in the people making personal decisions —
field,” Bar-Yam said. leaving neighborhoods if they can,
or staying if they can’t,” Wilson said.
a recent national science Foundation “We are all interacting with each other.”
grant of more than $550,000 confirms
that view and provides coco at Bing- the neighborhood Project has been
hamton with the resources the group able to map seemingly intangible — but
will need to explore and expand its utterly familiar — neighborhood charac-
evolutionary perspective on collective teristics. one part of its research found a
decision making. correlation between high marks for car-
ing neighbors and the level of holiday
David sloan Wilson, a distinguished decorations in a neighborhood.
professor of biology and anthropology
at Binghamton, a member of coco the juxtaposition of high science and
and the director of the interdisciplinary holiday displays is nothing new. “Bing-
evolutionary studies (evos) program hamton has always valued integration,”
at Binghamton, said it is coco’s Wilson said, mentioning the University’s
“combination of evolutionary theory and Languages across the curriculum pro-
complexity theory that is so special.” gram.“i think it’s one of the great things
about the University. in order to have
so, too, is its emphasis on using its integration, you have to have a com-
research to solve real-world problems. mon language — one is the common
language of evolutionary theories and
Wilson is part of the Binghamton neigh- complexity.”
borhood Project, a collaboration among
Binghamton faculty and community and that relatively new addition of
partners that uses coco to help make evolutionary theory to the study of com-
neighborhoods stronger. plexity science means a great deal more
landscape for great thinkers to explore
think of simcity, Wilson said, referring together.
to the popular computer game that chal-
— Kathleen Ryan O’Connor
lenges users to create a city. You create


Shelley Dionne

19

earnest money:
experimental
economics
puts the
world of
finance
under
a microscope

20

What happens when economics steps
into the lab? can you test it? touch it?
Poke it?
of course.
the result is experimental economics, the financial crisis has left many 401(k)-
a growing discipline that reaches into watchers wishing they could go back to
nearly every aspect of life, from the school to learn more about terms such
best auditing standards to how much as credit default swaps and “naked”
candy an 8-year-old might share short selling, or understand better the
with a classmate. Researchers use accounting wizardry at work behind the
reproducible, scientifically rigorous massive federal bailout of Wall street.
experiments to test fundamental
economic questions. it also has served to bring into sharp
relief the role of self-interest in financial
steven schwartz, associate professor of transactions.
accounting in Binghamton’s school of

management, is gaining notice from top self-interest takes center stage in “the
academic journals for his work in the effect of honesty and superior authority
field, including a recent investigation on Budget Proposals,” a paper schwartz
into the interplay between authority and researched with colleagues Frederick W.
honesty in the budgeting process. Rankin of colorado state University
and Richard a. Young of the ohio state
and his work comes at a good time for University. their findings were recently
economics, if also a bad time for the published by The Accounting Review, a
economy. top-three journal in the field.

21

Steven Schwartz

here, they take previous research that the design of the experiments. the idea schwartz and his colleagues discovered
shows subordinates have differing is to strike a balance between the relative that the most honesty came from giving
degrees of honesty in the budget- simplicity of a controlled laboratory subordinates final say over the budget.
ing process and move it several steps setting and all the messy motivations that is, when employees are trusted to
further — manipulating interactions that make up human nature. do the right thing, they tend to do it.
to see what produces incremental
differences in honesty. For example, in order to recreate a one- this is not to say that employees should
shot exchange between a manager and be trusted entirely. schwartz’s results
Does it matter if the subordinate or a worker over a budget in a lab setting, also suggest that while having the
superior has final say over the budget schwartz and his colleagues found a way superior set the budget may be resented
approval? Will employees be more or to give participants enough experience by employees, it does benefit the firm
less honest when they have to state to “get” the idea of the experiment, but through greater control.
the true cost of the budget versus not skew results by having them get too
something more akin to an offer? all comfortable with each other. Participants taken together, this research shows that
of these, schwartz and his colleagues interacted for 20 rounds, but were companies must be careful in choosing
discovered, affect honesty. and often randomly re-matched after each round. just the right amount of authority for
the smallest difference in control has the their managers. give them too much
biggest impact — a more finely tuned that same attention to detail was and employees will act with resentment;
understanding than can be gleaned from maintained when it came to money. too little, and they will run roughshod

mountains of data. over corporate policies.
as the budget communication
schwartz, like all experimental manipulation played out, the subordinate it’s in this way that experimental eco-
economists, must find creative ways either proposed an allocation of the nomics can trump traditional economic
to simulate the real world — he project’s profit to the superior — they models: it is better at capturing human
has also researched the best way to tagged this the “no factual assertion” behavior that isn’t always rational.
teach experiments in the accounting treatment — or reported the project’s
management classroom — so an exact cost to the superior — the “factual and accounting, like human nature, is
incredible amount of attention goes into assertion” treatment. a natural application for the methods

22

steven schwartz and his
colleagues discovered
that the most honesty
came from giving
subordinates final say
over the budget. that
is, when employees are
trusted to do the right
thing, they tend to do it.

of experimental economics, said shyam schwartz was attracted to experimental “You are not going to lie for a nickel,” he
sunder, a professor at the Yale school of economics for its hands-on approach explained.
management and a noted experimental and its respect for the enduringly popu-
economist. as a largely institutional lar game theory, or how people react But boost that reward to a quarter and
discipline, even small changes to ac- strategically in situations where com- all of a sudden fibbing emerges — or so
counting can have large consequences. peting strategies are at work. schwartz the experiments said.
describes it all simply as “fun.”
“of course no experience in the labora- “But we found that’s not really the
tory will give you a perfect prediction. that sense of fun has translated into case,” he said. he has seen firsthand
that doesn’t happen even in science, but all sorts of creative approaches, from how subjects forgo all types of selfish
it gives you some idea, on a small scale, finding a way to measure cooperation behavior in favor of more benevolent
what might happen if you made this mathematically to pondering eBay’s social norms.
change, and that gives you a little more feedback mechanism. schwartz has also
confidence on which path to choose,” discovered that he shares a passion for so we’re not just servants of our own
sunder said. the motivations of honesty and altruism self-interest?
with top names in the field such as
sunder recently attended a conference ernst Fehr of the University of Zurich in not at all.
where a group of researchers wanted to switzerland, who recently published a
know whether auditors choosing their provocative paper on the roots of sharing “People,” he said, “are much more will-

own standards or norms would lead to by testing children and candy. ing to return a kindness with a kindness
an increase in compliance. than you think.”
schwartz also shares an interest in
“they found, yes, it makes a significant — Kathleen Ryan O’Connor
showing how economics can turn
difference,” he said. “if you have a chance conventional wisdom on its head. he
to participate in deciding the norms and recalled a famous experiment, some 20
standards, you stick to them more, even years ago, in which researchers found
if, in auditing context, it means personal that if lying would net you only a paltry
sacrifice.” sum as a reward, you wouldn’t do it.

23


24
CovER SToRY

CovER SToRY

soun
strategy
compoSEr
diSSEctS
hiS
crEativE

procESS

25

CovER SToRY

paUl goldStaUB
rUNS a laBoratory
of SortS

the Binghamton University professor the poems, a series of spanish folk lyrics
translated into Russian by K.D. Balmont
does extensive reading and research, about a century ago, were translated into
english by martin Bidney, a professor
delves into the history of his field, emeritus of english at Binghamton.
When Bidney first shared them with
jots down ideas in a journal, performs goldstaub in 2005, there were more than
350 short poems addressing a variety of
experiments and tests his theories with themes.

the help of sophisticated software. then By may 2008, goldstaub had committed

he watches as it all comes together in a to writing a piece inspired by this poetry
in time for a premiere at the 2009 edition

live concert performance. of musica nova, the annual concert
of new music that he directs each
February.
goldstaub, an award-winning composer
who joined the music Department’s
“i’m very fortunate in that almost
faculty in 1998, sees numerous
everything i write gets performed,”
similarities between his work and that
said goldstaub, whose work has been
of the scientists whose labs are in the
played at Lincoln center, carnegie hall
building next door.
and as far away as Japan. “sometimes
i’m writing for a specific occasion or
“although we all hope for the lightning
situation and that in some ways helps
bolt of inspiration, whether you are a
me decide the style. here at Binghamton
scientist or an explorer or an artist, there
with the musica nova concerts, it’s
is a lot of what i call pre-compositional
an atmosphere that seems to invite
thinking and research going on,” he said.
experimentation. People have trusted
“a scientist might spend years studying
me to make interesting concerts and
the available literature, doing sample ex-
i’m delighted to say, ‘We’re going on a
periments, designing problems that lead
musical journey. come along.’”
up to the big question. he might spend
weeks, months or years walking around
harold Reynolds, a trombonist and
the outside of the problem, deciding
professor at ithaca college, has worked
first of all: What is the question? that is

with goldstaub for more than 20 years.
a process similar to what i go through.
he has commissioned works from
Before writing a note comes years of
goldstaub, both as a soloist and for an
general research on the topic.”
ensemble.
take goldstaub’s major project in 2008,
“it’s really exciting to get a piece that’s
for example. he spent much of the year
written for you because it’s something
composing a 25-minute piece inspired
brand new that no one else has,”
by a group of poems he first read three
Reynolds said. “it’s an organic process
years earlier.

26

CovER SToRY

27

CovER SToRY

when you work with a composer. i find
it exhilarating.”

he said goldstaub has attended
early rehearsals and worked with
the performers, occasionally making
changes in the piece. “Paul is so close
to the work that he does,” Reynolds
said. it’s so integral to his being that he
feels like part of the piece itself. he has
a built-in interest in being right in the
middle of it.”

Reynolds said he appreciates the
personal, even spiritual quality of
goldstaub’s compositions.

“Paul’s works are always introspective.
often they reflect deep-seated emotions
he’s going through at the time. i like that
because it’s really genuine. he gives a lot
of thought to what he wants to say.”

in 2008, that process brought goldstaub
to western new York, where he sought
inspiration on a working vacation near
a lake. “several hours were spent just
reading the poems over and over and
deciding which ones spoke to me,” he
said. While there, goldstaub whittled
down the number of poems he was
considering for the piece to about 50.

he also kept a journal about the
process. “it’s filled with my thoughts
Baritone Timothy LeFebvre, left, about structure, questions i wanted
to ask myself and references to music
will perform the composition
from other composers,” he said, citing
featuring poetry translated by
schumann, Britten and Berlioz as well
Martin Bidney, center. Paul
as some contemporary composers.
Goldstaub, right, wrote the music.

During the summer, goldstaub recorded
Bidney reading many of the poems
aloud and thought about how the poetry
would interact with the music. “that’s a
great miracle,” goldstaub said. “music

expands the emotion of the text.”

By June, goldstaub was seeing recur-
ring themes in the poems and they were
beginning to coalesce into groups. after
one breakthrough, he made a diagram
in his journal. “i drew a picture of how
i wanted the overall piece to sound,” he
said. “Usually i go with a more intuitive

28

Research Magazine 2009

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (13)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Research Magazine 2009