The Wisconsin Institute of Discovery appointed David Krakauer as its first permanent director Thursday.
Krakauer said his approach to running the WID will extend beyond scientific research to include the social sciences and humanities.
""I want them in the WID, because I don't think you can make a meaningful contribution to society without incorporating the people who study society,"" Krakauer said in a press release.
Krakauer said he thinks extending the program to include the humanities will be ""very exciting for people who might have been put off science.""
""It won't be narrow and doctrinaire, but open and conscious of the breadth of contributing lines of study,"" he said.
Krakauer specialized in information processing mechanisms in biology and culture as a professor at New Mexico's Santa Fe Institute for nine years, including two years as Faculty Chair, as well as co-director of Santa Fe's Social Computation Collective Group.
Krakauer explored similar projects at SFI, including instruction from novelist Cormac McCarthy as a research fellow.
For Krakauer, his time at the WID will be an ""opportunity to ask if a non-traditional approach would work at the larger scale.""
UW faculty expressed enthusiasm toward Krakauer's appointment.
""I am confident that with David's leadership the Institute will achieve its full potential as a driver of trans-disciplinary research,"" said Martin Cadwallader, UW-Madison vice chancellor of research and dean of the Graduate School.
The WID, which opened in 2010, is part of the broader Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, which includes the Morgridge Institute for Research.
Krakauer will replace interim director John Wiley in November.
