Réka Albert (born 2 March 1972) is a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n- Hungarian scientist. She is a distinguished professor of

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

and

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

and is noted for the

Barabási–Albert model The Barabási–Albert (BA) model is an algorithm for generating random scale-free network, scale-free complex network, networks using a preferential attachment mechanism. Several natural and human-made systems, including the Internet, the Worl ...

and research into

scale-free network A scale-free network is a network whose degree distribution follows a power law, at least asymptotically. That is, the fraction ''P''(''k'') of nodes in the network having ''k'' connections to other nodes goes for large values of ''k'' as : P( ...

s and Boolean modeling of biological systems. She was elected a Member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

in 2025.

Education

Albert was born in

Reghin Reghin (; , or ; ; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Reen'') is a city in Mureș County, Transylvania, central Romania, on the Mureș River. As of 2021, it had a population of 29,742, making it the second biggest city of the Mureș county, just behind th ...

, a city in

Mureș County Mureș County (, , ) is a county (''județ'') of Romania, in the Historical regions of Romania, historical region of Transylvania, with the administrative centre in Târgu Mureș. The county was established in 1968, after the administrative reor ...

, located in the historical region of

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

, in the north-central part of Romania. She obtained her B.S. and

M.S. A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medicine ...

degrees from

Babeș-Bolyai University The Babeș-Bolyai University ( , , commonly known as UBB) is a public research university located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Established in 1581 as Academia Claudiopolitana, it underwent several reorganizations over the centuries, eventually taking ...

Cluj-Napoca Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

, Romania, in 1995 and 1996, respectively. She earned her Ph.D. at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

in 2001.

Work

Albert is co-creator, together with

Albert-László Barabási Albert-László Barabási (born March 30, 1967) is a Romanian-born Hungarian-American physicist, renowned for his pioneering discoveries in network science and network medicine. He is a distinguished university professor and Robert Gray Profe ...

, of the Barabási–Albert model for generating scale-free random graphs via

preferential attachment A preferential attachment process is any of a class of processes in which some quantity, typically some form of wealth or credit, is distributed among a number of individuals or objects according to how much they already have, so that those who ...

(see

). Her work extends to networks in a very general sense, involving for instance investigations on the error tolerance and attack vulnerability of complex networks and its applications to the vulnerability of the North American

power grid ''Power Grid'' is the English-language version of the second edition of the multiplayer German-style board game ''Funkenschlag'', designed by Friedemann Friese and first released in 2004. ''Power Grid'' was released by Rio Grande Games. I ...

. Her current research focuses on dynamic modeling of biological networks and

systems biology Systems biology is the computational modeling, computational and mathematical analysis and modeling of complex biological systems. It is a biology-based interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on complex interactions within biological system ...

Awards

Albert was selected as a Sloan Research Fellow in 2004 and was awarded a

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

CAREER Award in 2007. She was named Fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

in 2010. One year later she received the Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award. In 2016 she was inducted as an external member of the

Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( , MTA) is Hungary’s foremost and most prestigious learned society. Its headquarters are located along the banks of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. The Academy's primar ...

. She was elected Fellow of the Network Science Society in 2018 and a

Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellowship of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (FAAAS) is an honor accorded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to distinguished persons who are members of the Association. Fellows are elected ...

in 2019.

Selected publications

* Albert R., Barabási A.-L.: ''Statistical mechanics of complex networks'', ''

Reviews of Modern Physics ''Reviews of Modern Physics'' (often abbreviated RMP) is a quarterly Peer review, peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Physical Society. It was established in 1929 and the current editor-in-chief is Michael Thoennessen. The jo ...

'', Vol. 74, Nr. 1, pp. 47–97, 2002,
arXiv:cond-mat/0106096v1
(submitted 6 June 2001) * Jeong H., Tombor B., Albert R., Oltvai Z.N., Barabási A.-L.: ''The large-scale organization of metabolic networks'', Nature 407, pp. 651–654, 2000,
arXiv:cond-mat/0010278
(submitted 19 October 2000) * Albert R., Jeong H., Barabási A.-L.: ''Error and attack tolerance of complex networks'', Nature 406, pp. 378–382, 2000,
arXiv:cond-mat/0008064v1
(submitted 3 August 2000) * Barabási A.-L., Albert R.: ''Emergence of scaling in random networks'',

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

, Vol. 286, Nr. 5439, pp. 509–12, 15 October 1999,
arXiv:cond-mat/9910332v1
(submitted 21 October 1999)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Albert, Reka 1972 births Living people People from Reghin Babeș-Bolyai University alumni University of Notre Dame alumni Romanian biologists Romanian women physicists Romanian physicists Hungarian physicists Hungarian biologists Hungarian women physicists Pennsylvania State University faculty Sloan Research Fellows Fellows of the American Physical Society Network scientists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences