Dr. Ray earned undergraduate degrees in biology and chemistry at Florida State University. He received his Masters and Doctorate in biology from Harvard University, specializing in plant ecology. He was a member of the Society of Fellows of the University of Delaware, School of Life and Health Sciences in 1981, where he is now an Associate Professor. In 1993, he received a joint appointment in Computer and Information Science at the University of Delaware, and was appointed to the External Faculty of the Santa Fe Institute. In August of 1993, he joined the new Evolutionary Systems Department at ATR (Advanced Telecommunications Research International) Human Information Processing Research Labs in Japan, as an invited researcher.
Dr. Ray is a tropical biologist who for 20 years has studied the evolution and ecology of a variety of organisms inhabiting the rainforests. His work has focused primarily on the foraging behavior of vines in the family Araceae; however, he has also studied ants, butterflies and beetles. Most of his field work has been conducted in Costa Rica. Since 1982, he has worked principally at Finca El Bejuco biological station located in the lowland rainforests of northern Costa Rica, which he built, owns and operates. He is actively engaged in rainforest conservation in Costa Rica.
Dr. Ray has no formal training in computer science, and he taught himself the C programming language in 1978. His interest in synthetic life started in 1980 while playing Go, however the interest lay dormant until 1989.
Dr. Ray is a member of The Bionomic Sciences Network.
Go to Prof. Ray's personal Day 1 | Conf '94 | Conf '95 |