Christopher C. Barton

Christopher C. Barton is Founder and Leader of the Complexity Research Group, Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Wright State University since 2004. He is a pioneer in the identification and quantification of nonlinear dynamics and complexity in earth, environmental, human, and economic systems. He uses the mathematical tools of fractals, chaos, and complexity to analyze, model, and forecast future behavior of complex systems. Current research topics include: fault trace scaling on Venus, temporal pattern of reversals of the Earth's magnetic field, dynamics of stream and river discharge, precipitation travel time through watersheds, and shoreline dynamics. Dr. Barton received two master’s degrees (1976, 1977), and a Ph.D. (1983) from Yale University. He was a post-doctoral fellow at U.C. Berkeley. He was a senior research scientist and project chief the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from 1984 until his retirement in 2004. He has twice been a USGS G.K. Gilbert Fellow at IBM with Benoit Mandelbrot, the "father of Fractals.” He is the author of more than 60 published research papers and is the senior editor of two books. He is a contributing editor to the international journal, Fractals since 1994.