Welcome. As the Director of the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, I view myself as a facilitator. My vision is to foster an environment that promotes scientific excellence for our faculty, trainees and students. Ideally, we want to create a place for the best scientists to conduct top-flight research into the nature of human cognition at levels ranging from neurons to societies.

The Institute itself, just over 20 years old, is situated strategically at the intersection of neuroscience, cognitive psychology and computational science. Over the past 8 years, since moving into the current 33,000 square foot laboratory facility, the Institute’s research program has massively expanded with the addition of research programs funded by agencies such as NIH, NSF and the Department of Defense. The Krasnow Institute has been recognized in Congressional testimony, in the international and domestic media, and of course most importantly through the recognition of our faculty, postdoctoral fellows and students. While there clearly will be many challenges ahead, I am confident that the underlying quality of the Institute’s science and staff will ensure our success.

My own scientific interests focus on the molecular basis of learning and memory particularly within the context of human disease. I am also …

Home » Who Are The Robinson Professors? » Harold Morowitz

Robinson Professor Harold Morowitz

Biophysicist Harold Morowitz became a Robinson Professor after a long career of teaching and research at Yale University as Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and serving for five years as Master of Pierson College. The author of several books, Morowitz has written extensively on the thermodynamics of living systems, as well as on popular topics in science. Included in those publications are Mayonnaise and the Origins of Life, Cosmic Joy and Local Pain, The Thermodynamics of Pizza, Entropy and the Magic Flute, and The Kindly Dr. Guillotin. In his current research, Morowitz is investigating the interface of biology and information sciences and continues his exploration of the origins of life. Other books are The Origin of Cellular Life: Metabolism Recapitulates Biogenesisand The Facts of Life (co-authored with James Trefil). He is Staff Scientist and former Director of the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study and former Editor-in-Chief of the journal Complexity. His book The Emergence of Everything: How the World Became Complex was published in 2002 by Oxford University Press.

Dr. Morowitz is principal investigator on the multi-institutional grant “From Geochemistry to the Origin of Life,” which is centered at the Santa Fe Institute and includes George Mason University …

http://krasnow1.gmu.edu/cn3/ascoli/

Profile here