Aleksandar I. Zecevic

Biography

Dr. Aleksandar Zecevic is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at Santa Clara University, and the Associate co-Dean for Mission, Culture and Inclusion. His technical research interests include the control of complex systems, graph theoretic decomposition algorithms, electric power systems and nonlinear dynamics. Some of his most important results in these fields are summarized in his book: Control of Complex Systems: Structural Constraints and Uncertainty. His latest book, Quantum and Parallel Computing: A Tale of Two Paradigms, has a somewhat different focus, and deals with recent advances in high-performance scientific computing.

Over the past 15 years, Dr. Zecevic has also done a considerable amount of work in the area of science and religion. His two books: Truth, Beauty and the Limits of Knowledge: A Path from Science to Religion and The Unknowable and the Counterintuitive: The Surprising Insights of Modern Science, are devoted to this topic. His most recent project is a trilogy on interdisciplinary aesthetics: The Beauty of Nature and the Nature of Beauty, Ten Dialogues about Art and Beauty and The Many Faces of Complexity: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Beauty. Each of these books provides a different perspective on beauty, and the role that it plays in the sciences, the humanities and the arts.

Dr. Zecevic has also developed two unique interdisciplinary courses that address the relationship between science, religion, and the humanities: Chaos Theory, Metamathematics and the Limits of Knowledge: A Scientific Perspective on Religion, and The Beauty of Nature and the Nature of Beauty. What makes these courses unusual is the fact that they count both as technical electives for engineering students, and satisfy requirements in Santa Clara University’s Core Curriculum (Religion, Theology and Culture, as well as Cultures and Ideas).