Dr Yaneer Bar-Yam is the founding president of the New England Complex Systems Institute. His introduction of fundamental mathematical rigor and real world application have contributed to the study of complex systems such as the global financial crisis and the 2014 Ebola outbreak. He has advised corporations, NGOs and government organizations, including CDC. He is the founder of EndCoronavirus, an international volunteer coalition promoting community-based solutions.

He received his PhD in Physics from MIT and is the author of Dynamics of Complex Systems, Making Things Work, and over 200 research papers.