Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing

**The world's leading venue for collaborative research in theoretical computer science** Established on July 1, 2012, with a grant from the Simons Foundation, the Simons Institute is housed in Calvin Lab, a dedicated building on the UC Berkeley campus. The Institute brings together the world's leading researchers in theoretical computer science and related fields, as well as the next generation of outstanding young scholars, to explore deep unsolved problems about the nature and limits of computation. **Mission** The Institute's mission is to promote fundamental research on the foundations of computer science, as well as to expand the horizons of the field by exploring other scientific disciplines through a computational lens. This second and distinctive goal is motivated by the fact that natural phenomena in many scientific fields (including physics, biology, neuroscience, game theory, and economics), or the models those fields have developed for these phenomena, are intrinsically computational in nature — from chemical processes in living cells to the self-organizing behavior of complex systems of interacting particles, to mechanisms governing human evolution and the collective behavior of competing agents in an economy. The insights gained from such explorations often reflect back to the theory of computation, opening new directions and advancing our understanding of fundamental issues in complexity theory and algorithms. Complementary to its research mission, the Institute works to enhance public understanding of algorithmic science, in recognition of the increasing prominence of algorithms in every aspect of human life and society.