Publications

Preprints & In Submission (2025)

• Le, N. H., Erikson, P., Zhang, Y., Levin, M., Bongard, J. ZapGPT: Free-form Language Prompting for Simulated Cellular Control. In submission to Artificial Life, MIT Press, 2025. [Code] [Video]
• Le, N. H., Erikson, P., Zhang, Y., Levin, M., Bongard, J. Giving Simulated Cells a Voice: Evolving Prompt-to-Intervention Models for Cellular Control. To appear in GECCO Companion Proceedings, ACM, 2025. [PDF] [Video]

Journal Articles

• Le, N. H., Levin, M., Watson, R., Bongard, J., Buckley, C. Emergent Collective Reproduction via Evolving Neuronal Flocks. Northeast Journal of Complex Systems, Vol. 7, No. 2, Article 8, 2025. [Full Text] [Code]

Conference Papers

• Le, N. H., Brabazon, A., O’Neill, M. Social Learning vs Self-teaching in a Multi-agent Neural Network System. Applications of Evolutionary Computation, Springer, 2020, pp. 354–368.
• Le, N. H. Evolution and Self-teaching in Neural Networks. GECCO Companion Proceedings, ACM, 2019.
• Le, N. H. Evolving Self-taught Neural Networks: The Baldwin Effect and the Emergence of Intelligence. AISB Symposium on AI & Games, 2019.
• Le, N. H., Brabazon, A., O'Neill, M. Evolutionary Consequences of Learning Strategies in a Dynamic Rugged Landscape. GECCO Proceedings, ACM, 2019.
• Le, N. H., Brabazon, A., O'Neill, M. How Learning Strategies Can Promote an Evolving Population in Dynamic Environments. IEEE CEC, 2019.
• Le, N. H., Brabazon, A., O'Neill, M. The Evolution of Self-taught Neural Networks in Multi-agent Environment. EvoStar Conference, 2019.
• Le, N. H., Brabazon, A., O'Neill, M. How the Baldwin Effect Can Guide Evolution in Dynamic Environments. TPNC Conference, 2018.
• Le, N. H., Brabazon, A., O'Neill, M. Adaptive Advantage of Learning Strategies: A Study Through Dynamic Landscape. PPSN XV, 2018.
• Le, N. H., Brabazon, A., O'Neill, M. The Baldwin Effect Reconsidered Through the Prism of Social Learning. IEEE CEC, 2018.

Genetic Programming & Representation Learning

• Le, N. H., Bongard, J. Decoupling Representation and Learning in Genetic Programming: The LaSER Approach. To appear in Genetic Programming Theory and Practice (GPTP), 2025. [Preprint]
• Le, N. H., O'Neill, M., Brabazon, A. Social Grammatical Evolution with Imitation Learning for Real-Valued Function Estimation. IEEE CEC, 2017.
• Le, N. H., Xuan, H. N., Brabazon, A., Thi, T. P. Complexity Measures in Genetic Programming Learning: A Brief Review. IEEE CEC, 2016.

Reviewer Service

• Cognitive Science (Wiley)
• Artificial Life Journal (MIT Press)
• IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation
• GECCO – Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference
• IEEE CEC – Congress on Evolutionary Computation
• ALIFE – Artificial Life Conference

Invited Talks & Academic Visits

• Visiting Speaker, Allen Discovery Center, Tufts University Talk: Evolutionary Transitions in Individuality and the VitaNova Platform (2024). [Video]
• Visiting Researcher, Beacon Center, Michigan State University (2024)
• Visiting Researcher, Simon Levin Lab, Princeton University (2024)