Pankaj Mehta Explained

Nationality:	American
Fields:	Biophysics, statistical physics, theoretical ecology, systems biology, hard condensed matter theory
Workplaces:	Boston University Princeton University
Alma Mater:	California Institute of Technology Rutgers University
Academic Advisors:	Natan Andrei, Ned Wingreen

Pankaj Mehta is an American theoretical physicist whose research has involved biophysics, statistical physics, machine learning theory, and hard condensed matter theory. He is a professor of Physics at Boston University.

Mehta has worked on statistical mechanics tools in theoretical community ecology, biological information processing, and cell fate development models. In his work on theoretical ecology, Mehta has described consumer-resource models and statistical physics-based approaches to niche and coexistence theory.^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}

Education and career

Mehta received a B.S. in mathematics from California Institute of Technology in 2000.^[5] Mehta then received his PhD in physics from Rutgers University specializing in hard condensed matter physics in 2006 under the supervision of Natan Andrei. He was a postdoctoral scholar at Princeton University's departments of molecular biology and physics where he worked under the supervision of Ned Wingreen from 2006-2010.

In 2010, Mehta became an assistant professor in the Boston University department of physics, later receiving tenure in 2015. At Boston University, he is a member of the Faculty of Computing and Data Sciences.^[6] He is an affiliate faculty member of Boston University's Department of Biomedical Engineering, Center for Regenerative Medicine, and Biological Design Center.^[7] He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

Honors

• Fellow of the American Physical Society, nominated by the Division of Biological Physics (2023), for "creative and impactful use of statistical mechanics tools in addressing a broad range of problems, from biological information processing and microbial ecology to machine learning theory."^[8]
• Simons Investigator in the Mathematical Modeling of Living Systems (2014)^[9]
• Scialog Fellow, Molecules Come to Life (2014)^[10]
• Gerald and Deanne Gitner Family Innovation in Teaching Award (2014)^[11]
• Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship (2011)^[12]

Publications

• Mehta P, Wang CH, Day AG, Richardson C, Bukov M, Fisher CK, Schwab DJ . May 2019 . A high-bias, low-variance introduction to Machine Learning for physicists . Phys Rep . 810 . 1–124 . 10.1016/j.physrep.2019.03.001 . 6688775 . 31404441. 1803.08823 . 2019PhR...810....1M .
• 1410.3831 . stat.ML . Pankaj . Mehta . David . Schwab . An exact mapping between the Variational Renormalization Group and Deep Learning . 14 October 2014. See Quanta and Wired magazines.
• 2403.05497 . q-bio.PE . Wenping Cui, Robert Marsland III, Pankaj Mehta . Les Houches Lectures on Community Ecology: From Niche Theory to Statistical Mechanics . 8 March 2024. From Les Houches School of Physics.
• Mehta . Pankaj . Schwab . David J. . October 8, 2012 . Energetic costs of cellular computation . . 109 . 44 . 17978–17982 . 10.1073/pnas.1207814109. free . 23045633 . 3497803 . 1203.5426 . 2012PNAS..10917978M .
• Mehta . Pankaj . Goyal . Sidhartha . Long . Tao . Bassler . Bonnie L . Wingreen . Ned S . 17 November 2009 . Information processing and signal integration in bacterial quorum sensing . . 5 . 1 . 325 . 10.1038/msb.2009.79 . 19920810. 2795473 .
• Fisher . Charles K. . Mehta . Pankaj . August 25, 2014 . The transition between the niche and neutral regimes in ecology . . 111 . 36 . 13111–13116 . 1308.2969 . 10.1073/pnas.1405637111 . free . 25157131. 4246938 . 2014PNAS..11113111F .
• Wenping . Cui . Marsland . Robert . Mehta . Pankaj . 21 July 2020 . Effect of Resource Dynamics on Species Packing in Diverse Ecosystems . . 125 . 4 . 048101 . 1911.02595 . 10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.048101. 32794828 . 8999492 . 2020PhRvL.125d8101C . See Physics (magazine).

References

1. News: Cepelwicz . Jordana . January 26, 2018 . How Math Can Help Unravel the Weird Interactions of Microbes . Wired Magazine.
2. News: Wolchover . Natalie . December 15, 2014 . AI Recognizes Cats the Same Way Physicists Calculate the Cosmos . Wired Magazine.
3. News: Popkin . Gabriel . October 13, 2020 . A Physicist's Approach to Biology Brings Ecological Insights . Quanta Magazine.
4. News: Wolchover . Natalie . December 4, 2014 . A Common Logic to Seeing Cats and Cosmos . Quanta Magazine.
5. Web site: ORCID . 2024-03-23 . orcid.org.
6. Web site: Pankaj Mehta Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences . 2024-03-24 . www.bu.edu.
7. Web site: Pankaj Mehta Center for Multiscale & Translational Mechanobiology . 2024-03-23 . www.bu.edu.
8. Web site: APS Fellow Archive . 2024-03-18 . www.aps.org . en.
9. Web site: 2017-08-17 . Pankaj Mehta . 2024-03-18 . Simons Foundation . en-US.
10. Web site: Advancement . Research Corporation for Science . Scialog® – MCL Team Awards . 2024-03-23 . Research Corporation for Science Advancement . en.
11. Web site: CAS Physics Team Wins First Gitner Award BU Today . 2024-03-23 . Boston University . en.
12. Web site: Pankaj Mehta Physics . 2024-03-23 . www.bu.edu.