STEMcast Episode 35 | Handshakes between Methods and People: Fostering Collaboration at the Flatiron Institute with Prof. Andrew Millis

Welcome to the Beyond the Lab series of STEMcast! With Prof. Andrew Millis, Professor of Physics at Columbia University and co-director of the Center for Computational Quantum Physics at the Flatiron Institute, we dive into the fundamental and fundamentally strange world of quantum mechanics and how it is connected to the world of everyday things. How do collective properties arise from the interaction of individual atoms and electrons? How is the whole different from the sum of its parts? Alongside these questions, we discuss the origins of the Simons Foundation and its internal research division, the Flatiron Institute. Prof. Millis describes the philosophy of philanthropy-driven science at Flatiron, how it differs from traditional academic funding models, and how it fosters a culture of collaboration. Thanks to this culture, the whole can trul ...