Randall D. Beer is a professor of cognitive science

Cognitive science

Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary scientific study of mind and its processes. It examines what cognition is, what it does and how it works. It includes research on how information is processed , represented, and transformed in behaviour, nervous system or machine...

, computer science

Computer science

Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...

, and informatics

Informatics (academic field)

Informatics is the science of information, the practice of information processing, and the engineering of information systems. Informatics studies the structure, algorithms, behavior, and interactions of natural and artificial systems that store, process, access and communicate information...

 at Indiana University

Indiana University Bloomington

Indiana University Bloomington is a public research university located in Bloomington, Indiana, in the United States. IU Bloomington is the flagship campus of the Indiana University system. Being the flagship campus, IU Bloomington is often referred to simply as IU or Indiana...

. He was previously at Case Western Reserve University

Case Western Reserve University

Case Western Reserve University is a private research university located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA...

. His primary research

Research

Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...

 interest is in understanding how coordinated behavior

Behavior

Behavior or behaviour refers to the actions and mannerisms made by organisms, systems, or artificial entities in conjunction with its environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the physical environment...

 arises from the neurodynamics of an animal's nervous system, its body and its environment. He works on the evolution

Evolution

Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...

 and analysis of dynamical "nervous systems" for model agents, neuromechanical modeling of animals, biomorphic robotics

Biomorphic robotics

For the art movement, see biomorphism.Biomorphic robotics is a sub-discipline of robotics focused upon emulating the mechanics, sensor systems, computing structures and methodologies used by animals. In short, it is building robots inspired by the principles of biological systems.One of the most...

, and dynamical systems approaches to behavior and cognition

Cognition

In science, cognition refers to mental processes. These processes include attention, remembering, producing and understanding language, solving problems, and making decisions. Cognition is studied in various disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science...

. More generally, he is interested in computational

Computational biology

Computational biology involves the development and application of data-analytical and theoretical methods, mathematical modeling and computational simulation techniques to the study of biological, behavioral, and social systems...

 and theoretical biology, including models of metabolism

Metabolism

Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of living organisms to sustain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories...

, gene regulation and development. He also has a longstanding interest in the design and implementation of dynamic programming language

Dynamic programming language

Dynamic programming language is a term used broadly in computer science to describe a class of high-level programming languages that execute at runtime many common behaviors that other languages might perform during compilation, if at all...

s and their environments.

Books

• Biological neural networks in invertebrate neuroethology and robotics / edited by Randall D. Beer, Roy E. Ritzmann, Thomas McKenna. Boston : Academic Press, c1993. xi, 417 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. ISBN 0-12-084728-0 (acid-free paper)

• Beer, Randall D. Intelligence as adaptive behavior : an experiment in computational neuroethology / Randall D. Beer. Boston : Academic Press, c1990. xxiii, 213 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. ISBN 0-12-084730-2 (alk. paper)