Dec 4, 2006 -- “Organizing an international conference is a big, big thing,” said Gabriel Cwilich, PhD, associate professor of physics at Yeshiva College, before leaving in early December for the Pan-American Scientific Institute in Mar del Plata, Argentina, which he and YC physics professors Fredy R. Zypman, PhD, and Sergey Buldyrev, PhD coordinated. The three professors are all co-principal investigators of the institute, which runs from December 11-20 and is co-sponsored by Yeshiva University. They spearheaded the effort to bring together over 100 leading physicists and researchers from all over the world to participate in the conference, titled “From Disordered Systems to Complex Systems.” The three received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to organize the institute last year. The physicists will discuss topics ranging from polymeric systems to a quantitative analysis of climate. While the NSF—which finances the institutes to foster scientific collaboration between North and South America—provided a grant of $100,000, YU contributed additional monies to the project, enabling four undergraduates to attend an event “that is traditionally open only to graduate students, post-docs, and researchers,” says Dr. Cwilich. “Several of the students may have a chance to present their own work at the conference,” said Dr. Cwilich before leaving for Argentina. But, he stressed, all the students helped organize the conference and would “learn by exposure to a research environment – to see how it is done.” Physics major Elie Wolfe said he was looking forward to “networking with professors and students with similar interests.” Students Eli Lansey, Ari Lapin, and Perry Fox also attended. To finish teaching his courses before leaving for Argentina, Dr. Cwilich held additional classes, some from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m., others on Sundays—an arrangement that he was pleasantly surprised the students supported. “Our professors are interested in teaching us as well as involving us in research. Taking us to this conference enables them to do both of these,” said Mr. Lansey.