“Bound to fail.” “Impossible.” “Can’t be done.”
Nadya Bliss has been hearing these phrases since she was a 5-year-old trying out for ballet in the former Soviet Union. These same phrases are used to describe many of the current seemingly unsolvable “wicked” problems, ranging from information security to the spread of infectious disease.
As the director of Arizona State University’s Global Security Initiative and professor of practice at ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, Bliss is not deterred by personal discouragement, or the claim that complex problems are impossible to solve. Instead, she embraces complexity and integrates expertise from a broad range of fields and disciplines.
Here, she speaks on solving the unsolvable problem, and how that's not as much of a contradiction as it might appear.
Bliss’ talk is part of the ASU KEDtalks series. Short for Knowledge Enterprise Development talks, KEDtalks aim to spark ideas, indulge curiosity, and inspire action by highlighting ASU scientists, humanists, social scientists and artists who are driven to find solutions to the universe’s grandest challenges. Tune in monthly to research.asu.edu/kedtalks to discover why space is the next economic frontier, how the next educational revolution will come about, and more.
More Science and technology
AI and robotics researchers at ASU work to keep people safe, healthy
As Arizona State Unviversity continues to shine in U.S. patent rankings, robotics and artificial intelligence garner a growing percentage of such technologies. Two faculty members among the…
A new chapter in national security research at ASU
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite, into a low orbit around the Earth. Only the size of a beach ball, the satellite sent shock waves through the United…
One ASU researcher’s fix for freight’s costliest miles
America’s freight system is a miracle of modern logistics — until it isn’t. One snowstorm, one labor shortage, one delayed truck outside a major hub, and the whole process starts to wobble.…