Researcher Roby learns the value of networking

Researcher Roby learns the value of networking

Hera Diani , The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It's people like Roby Muhamad who give good reason to bypass
school reunions to avoid those potentially pressure-filled,
cringe-inducing Romy and Michelle High School Reunion scenarios.

Yes, we went to the same junior high school in Bandung, he
dated one of my girlfriends and both of us studied science in
university.

But next thing you know, Roby is a researcher and a doctoral
student at Columbia University in New York, doing rather lofty
-sounding work on the application of modern mathematical and
computational techniques to the structure and evolution of social
networks.

Compiled in a paper called An Experimental Study of Search in
Global Social Networks, it was covered last year by dozens of
prominent international media, including CNN, the New York Times
and the National Geographic.

All when he was barely 28.

Now, a year later, we bumped into each other in cyberspace,
through the magical online networking service, Friendster, which
is in line with the "Smallworld" experiment he and his
professors, Duncan Watts and Peter Dodds, are conducting.

The experiment is a modification of one conducted by social
psychologist Stanley Milgram from Harvard University in 1967. It
showed that the average length of acquaintance chains was roughly
six, which led to the phrase "Six degrees of separation".

Conducted on a global scale through electronic mail, the
Smallworld project hopes to test not only average properties of
lengths of acquaintance chains, but also the distribution of
lengths, along with the effect of race, class, nationality,
occupation and education.

"The experiment helps us, for instance, in studying how human
beings conduct social or collective problem solving. This may be
useful in technology development, such as distributed databases,
peer to peer networks and next generation web searches," Roby
said by e-mail.

"We can also find out the meaning of social capital that
motivation is more important than access. The project also helps
to design a better protocol for ambiguous problem solving."

Generally, he said, what the experiment offered was the
"network" way of thinking, where we no longer see the individual,
an organization or a company as a separate items but instead
connected with one another, and influence each other.

"This knowledge, for instance, can be applied in campaigns for
positive social attitude, such as antismoking, communicable
disease eradication or political movements," he said.

Right now, Roby is still working on the Smallworld project
because there is much unanalyzed data, as well as a research
project on a mathematical model for epidemiology, and studying
collective violence for his doctoral dissertation.

Although currently studying at Columbia's Department of
Sociology, Roby's bachelor's and master's were in physics, which
he obtained at Bandung Institute of Technology.

A native Sundanese born to a a sports medicine specialist
father and pediatrician mother, Roby was lucky to have an
excellent physics teacher in high school who made the subject his
favorite.

"I always follow my heart when doing something. As a high
school graduate, I didn't know what major I should take at
university, just like many other teenagers. So, I chose physics
as it was the only field I liked," Roby recalled of his own
Holden Caulfield moment.

The major turned out to fit him well; a more theoretical than
practical person, he was called upon to fundamentally understand
and make a model out of natural phenomena.

With a thesis on Stephen Hawking's black hole theory, as well
as a master's on string theory and M-theory, Roby thought about
switching to social science after witnessing political changes
here following Soeharto's hasty exit from power in 1998.

He was ecstatic to find at Columbia that Harrison White, the
pioneer of network analysis in sociology, has a Ph.D in
theoretical physics.

Columbia's senior professor Duncan Watts, who leads the
Smallworld project, also has a doctorate in applied physics.

"The migration of physicists was encouraged by the fact that
math and computation technics have developed well enough that it
enables the unraveling of complex problems in social science,"
said Roby, who lives in New York with wife Tika Sukarna, a
doctoral student in biology at City University.

First financed by his diplomat father-in-law and then through
a scholarship, Roby enrolled in Columbia and earned his second
master's degree.

The university now provides full financial support, as well as
appointing him a teaching fellow.

As an Indonesian in New York, he does not feel alienated in
the multicultural society.

"I really enjoy Columbia and New York. I don't find racism ...
People in fact want to know Indonesia better."

Living in the fast-paced, convenience-oriented United States
has led to a shift in his view of his homeland, which used to be
very negative.

"Everything is available here, so I'm amazed at seeing the
creativity and the strength of Indonesians in solving their daily
problems."

However, in doing research on collective violence, he is
concerned by the seemingly unending conflicts and violence in
Indonesia which have yet to be resolved, especially in
identifying those responsible. The problem, he said, and the lack
of attention to it, was far greater and more dangerous than
corruption.

"It's a frightening thing about Indonesia, as if violations of
the law and humanity are something commonplace ...."

In between research and teaching, Roby kicks back by hanging
out in cafes with friends.

"It's tough, however, for a person like me to have fun.
Because in the end I always end up in a serious discussion, even
after seeing a movie," he said, laughing.

Fortunately, he said, he was now enjoying the ultimate fun --
playing with his four-month-old son, Toby, whose picture is
shown is a montage of him reading a thick book on evolution. Poor
baby.

Roby said he would remain in New York for at least the next
three or four years.

"Afterwards, it depends on the job I get as a researcher or
teacher. If possible, in the end, I must return to Indonesia.
Because it's only there that I I can express myself fully."