Theodore Pavlic has an interdisciplinary background, starting with a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering, progressing through research appointments in computer science and life sciences, leading to his current joint appointment as an assistant professor in the School of Sustainability and the School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering at Arizona State University. His research focuses on understanding adaptive decision-making strategies in autonomous systems. To this end, his laboratory does empirical work with natural systems, such as social-insect colonies, and does engineering work building decision-making algorithms for artificial systems, such as decentralized energy management systems for the built environment. Just as the biological models provide inspiration for novel engineering solutions, the engineering problems inspire new lines of scientific inquiry about those biological systems. This bidirectional flow is facilitated by solid mathematical models of fundamental decision-making processes in common with both the natural and engineered systems. Professor Pavlic is the associate director of research for The Biomimicry Center at Arizona State University. He is also active in several professional organizations and publication venues across engineering and life sciences. He is a faculty member in Sustainability, Industrial Engineering, Computer Engineering, Applied Math in the Life and Social Sciences, Biology, and Animal Behavior, and he is active in several of the complexity-related groups across ASU's campus.