Matt Kleban, Member in the School of Natural Sciences (2003–06, 2012–13), recalls how a brief conversation at an AMIAS gathering—with Professor Emeritus in the School, Edward Witten—opened a new line of thinking in his research on string theory. AMIAS, the Association of Members of the Institute for Advanced Study, connects all accepted, current, and former IAS scholars and keeps those chance encounters alive even after a scholar's time at IAS ends.
