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."