The Legacy of Hands-on Science

ICTP was saddened to learn of the passing, just weeks apart, of two founders of the very successful Hands-on Research in Complex Systems School, that ICTP has been hosting for the past 18 years. Kenneth C. Showalter (1949-2026) and Harry L. Swinney (1939-2026) were committed researchers with different academic backgrounds but a shared passion for complex systems that can be investigated with table-top experiments.

Showalter, who passed away on 4 June at the age of 77, was a chemist and a professor emeritus at the University of West Virginia, where he spent most of his career. His research focused on chemical oscillations, reaction diffusion phenomena, and emergent behaviour in systems of coupled oscillators.
Swinney, who died on 13 July at 87, was an experimental physicist and a professor emeritus at The University of Texas at Austin. Swinney was a founding father of the field of nonlinear dynamics and chaos; his research also examined a diverse range of problems in fluid mechanics and critical phenomena.

Showalter and Swinney teamed up with another enthusiast of complex systems, Rajarshi Roy of the University of Maryland in 2008, to launch a successful series of Hands-on Schools. The then director of ICTP, K. R. Sreenivasan, invited Showalter, Swinney and Roy to submit a proposal for ICTP support; ICTP has been the primary sponsor of the Schools ever since. At the invitation of Abhijit Sen of the Institute of Plasma Research, the first School was held in January 2008 in Gandhinagar, India. Later Schools took place in Brazil, Cameroon and China, before settling in Trieste, where they have taken place since 2013. “Their idea was very simple,” says Mike Schatz of the Georgia Institute of Technology, who has been a tutor in the Hands-on Schools and more recently became one of the School directors. “You can use inexpensive, commercial-type tools to carry out experiments in chemistry, biology and physics that are small-scale and table-top, but address original and forefront research questions,” he explains, adding, “The Hands-on Research in Complex Systems Schools defied the old idea that cutting-edge research experiments are big and expensive.”

Showalter, Swinney and Roy understood that, because they can address advanced research questions on a budget, table-top experiments on complex systems would be a great asset for researchers in countries lacking resources. “What makes these experiments even more interesting is that they allow one to approach local problems, which researchers on-site have unique access to from their specific corner of the world,” Schatz explains.

“The secret to the workshops was the fact that its facilitators, like Ken and Harry, were there for the entirety of the School and didn't just lecture -- they were there primarily to mentor, and both Ken and Harry were remarkable mentors who couldn't hide their enthusiasm for teaching,” says Joe Niemela, an ICTP emeritus scientist who was the local organiser of most editions of the Hands-on Schools. The workshops included professional development tutorials, for example on how to write a research grant proposal, and poster sessions where the students displayed posters that they had worked on during the School. “They first attended tutorials on how to make an effective poster and then went over the poster pdfs individually with the facilitators before the ICTP print shop printed them out for the session,” Niemela recounts. As Schatz likes to put it, “What we tell School participants is that, unlike typical conferences where the focus is on scientific questions of interest, here at the School the focus is on you and your professional development.”

“The enthusiasm, creativity, and determination of both the participants and faculty created an exceptionally intense and stimulating environment, recounts Mark Tinsley, an associate professor at the University of West Virginia and a close collaborator of Showalter’s. “I recall faculty and participants mix and matching aspects of our chemical dynamics with some of the hydrodynamics long after the timetabled sessions had ended for the day. Just to see what we could see. And we saw,” he continues, adding, “At least one peer-reviewed publication from our group in West Virginia emerged directly from observations first made during the workshop.”

With 12 editions on the record, the Hands-on Schools can now count about 700 alumni. Showalter and Swinney’s legacy is also in the lives and careers of these former students, who in many cases have gone on to become accomplished researchers. “Harry may have been proudest of the innovative program he and his colleagues created to bring academic research excellence into underserved nations,” Swinney’s obituary recites. These words echo Showalter’s family's motivation to request that donations be made to ICTP in lieu of flowers--a gesture for which ICTP is immensely grateful. Their enthusiasm and passion for science will also live on through the editions to come. The 13th Hands-on Research School in Complex Systems is scheduled to take place from 3 to 14 August 2026, again at ICTP, welcoming almost 50 participants, 95% of whom are from developing and least developed countries, who will benefit greatly from the training and mentoring they will receive.