My primary research interests lie at the intersection of two fields: evolutionary computation and multi-agent systems. I am specifically interested in how evolutionary search algorithms can be used to help people understand and analyze agent-based models of complex systems (e.g., flocking birds, traffic jams, or how information diffuses across social networks). My secondary research interests broadly span the areas of artificial life, multi-agent robotics, cognitive/learning science, design of multi-agent modeling environments. I enjoy interdisciplinary research, and in pursuit of the aforementioned topics, I have been involved in application areas from archeology to zoology, from linguistics to marketing, and from urban growth patterns to materials science. I am also very interested in creative approaches to computer science and complex systems education, and have published work on the use of multi-agent simulation as a vehicle for introducing students to computer science.

It is my philosophy that theoretical research should be inspired by real-world problems, and conversely, that theoretical results should inform and enhance practice in the field. Accordingly, I view tool building as a vital practice that is complementary to theoretical and methodological research. Throughout my own work I have contributed to the research community by developing several practical software tools, including BehaviorSearch (http://www.behaviorsearch.org/)

http://learnmem.cshlp.org/content/27/1.cover-expansion
(Cover simulation using NetLogo, January 2020)
Enver Miguel Oruro, Grace V.E. Pardo, Aldo B. Lucion, Maria Elisa Calcagnotto and Marco A. P. Idiart. Maturation of pyramidal cells in anterior piriform cortex may be sufficient to explain the end of early olfactory learning in rats. Learn. Mem. 2020. 27: 20-32 © 2020 Oruro et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

http://learnmem.cshlp.org/content/27/12.cover-expansion
(paper using NetLogo, December 2020)
Enver Miguel Oruro, Grace V.E. Pardo, Aldo B. Lucion, Maria Elisa Calcagnotto and Marco A. P. Idiart. The maturational characteristics of the GABA input in the anterior piriform cortex may also contribute to the rapid learning of the maternal odor during the sensitive period Learn. Mem. 2020. 27: 493-502 © 2020 Oruro et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

Enver Oruro, BA Psych. PhD(s).
Computational Psychologist
[email protected]
https://br.linkedin.com/in/enveroruro
Neurocomputational and Language Processing Laboratory, Institute of Physics/ UFRGS
Neurophysiology and Neurochemistry of Neuronal Excitability and Synaptic Plasticity Laboratory, Department of Biochemistry/ UFRGS

Meeting Organization

2009 First Meeting on Complex Systems -Neuroscience and Behavior Laboratory, School of Medicine UPCH Lima

2010 Second Meeting on Complex Systems - College of Psychologists of Peru / Colegio de Psicólogos del Perú (CPsP) Lima

2012 3rd Meeting on Complex Systems – Computational Social Psychology, /Neuroscience and Behavior Laboratory, School of Medicine UPCH Lima February 2012 https://www.comses.net/events/185/
http://www.neurocienciaperu.org/home/3ra-reunion-de-sistemas-complejos-psicologia-social-computacional
2012 4th Meeting on Complex Systems – Cognotecnology and Cognitive Science, Neuroscience and Behavior Laboratory, School of Medicine UPCH Lima July 2012 https://www.comses.net/events/212/

2014 5th Meeting on Complex Systems – Complexity Roadmap. The Imperial City of the Incas, Cusco, April. https://www.comses.net/events/312/

2015 Chair of “e-session on Neuroscience and Behavior” UNESCO UniTwin CS-DC’15
2015 Chair of “e-session on Social Psychology” UNESCO UniTwin CS-DC’15
CS-DC’15 (Complex Systems Digital Campus ’15 – World e-Conference) is organizing the e-satellites of CCS’15, the international Conference on Complex Systems. It is devoted to all scientists involved in the transdisciplinary challenges of complex systems, crossing theoretical questions with experimental observations of multi-level dynamics. CCS’15 is organized by the brand new ASU-SFI Center for Biosocial Complex Systems. Arizona State University, (USA) from Sept 28 to Oct 2, 2015, in close collaboration with the Complex Systems Society and the Santa Fe Institute. from http://cs-dc-15.org/

2018 Seminar in “Mother-Infant Attachment and Supercomputing”, NY. USA and Porto Alegre, Brazil, August 09. https://www.comses.net/events/499/

2019 Seminar in Experimental and Computational Studies on Mother-Infant Relationship October 8 and 15, 2019 ICBS, /Determine the neural pathways by which the nervous system of the neonates establish attachment with their mothers is a problem that has motivated hypothesis and experiments at several scale levels, from neurotransmission to ethological level. UFRGS, Porto Alegre, Brazil. https://www.comses.net/events/549/

2020 Seminar in Maternal Infant Relationship Studies: Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence March 7 and 9
Goals 1. Discuss a Roadmap for mother-Infant relationship research in the framework of the UNESCO Complex System Digital Campus project. https://www.comses.net/events/570/ https://sites.google.com/view/envermiguel/seminar-in-maternal-infant-relationship-studies?read_current=1

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-FVQXBXy4RLKIQA-RBx3KFLJxyBsnyCW/view?usp=sharing

Sedar is a PhD student at the University of Leeds, department of Geography. He graduated in Computer Science at King’s College London 2018. From a very early stage of his degree, he focused on artificial intelligence planning implementations on drones in a search and rescue domain, and this was his first formal attempt to study artificial intelligence. He participated in summer school at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul working on programming techniques to reduce execution time. During his final year, he concentrated on how argumentation theory with natural language processing can be used to optimise political influence. In the midst of completing his degree, he applied to Professor Alison Heppenstall’s research proposal focusing on data analytics and society, a joint endeavour with the Alan Turing Institute and the Economic and Social Research Council. From 2018 - 2023 he will be working on his PhD at the Alan Turing Institute and Leeds Institute for Data Analytics.

After completing my undergraduate education at Bilkent University (Turkey), I continued my studies at the University of Cambridge, receiving first my MPhil and then my PhD in Assyriology/Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology, funded by a Chevening Open Society Scholarship and the Board of Higher Education of Turkey. After teaching for several years at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, I moved to eastern Turkey to start the Archaeology Department of Bitlis Eren University, and I was the Head of Department until the end of 2018. I have been a visiting researcher at the American Center of Oriental Research in Amman in 2011 (Mellink Fellowship), at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago in 2014 (Fulbright Fellowship), and at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History of Uppsala University in 2019 (Swedish Institute Fellowship). I have also held a Newton Advanced Fellowship here at Leicester in the UK. I have previously co-directed several fieldwork projects: the Cambridge University Kilise Tepe Excavations (southern Turkey, 2009-13), the Cide Archaeological Project (survey, Black Sea coast, 2010-1), the Sirwan Regional Project (survey, northern Iraq, 2012-5), and the Lower Göksu Archaeological Salvage Survey Project (survey, southern Turkey, 2013-7). I am currently co-directing the Çadır Höyük excavations, which is a joint American, British, Canadian and Turkish archaeological excavation project conducted in north-central Turkey, and the Taşeli-Karaman Archeological Project, which was initiated in 2018 as a continuation of the Lower Göksu Archaeological Salvage Survey Project, to study the Göksu River Basin in its wider geographical context in the hope of better understanding its role as a network hub connecting the eastern Mediterranean world to the central Anatolian Plateau.

Ifigeneia Koutiva (female) is a senior environmental engineer, holding a PhD in Civil Engineering (NTUA), a Postgrad Diploma in Water Resources and Environmental Management (Un. of Belgrade - e-learning), an MSc in Environmental Technology (Imperial College London) and an MSc in Mining and Metallurgy Engineering (NTUA). Her PhD was funded by the Greek Ministry of Education through Heracleitous II scholarship. She is currently a postdoctoral scholar of the State Scholarship Foundation (IKY) for 2020 - 2021. She has 10 years of experience in various EU funded research projects, both as a researcher and as a project manager, in the fields of socio-technical simulation, urban water modelling, modelling and assessment of alternative water technologies, artificial intelligence, social quantitative research, KPI and water indicators development and assessment and analysis of large data sets. She is very competent with programming for creating ICT tools for agent based modelling and data analysis tools and she is an experienced user of spatial analysis software and tools. She is also actively involved in the design and implementation of numerous consultation workshops and conferences. She has authored more than 20 scientific journal articles, conferences articles and research reports.

The goal of my research program is to improve our understanding about highly integrated natural and human processes. Within the context of Land-System Science, I seek to understand how natural and human systems interact through feedback mechanisms and affect land management choices among humans and ecosystem (e.g., carbon storage) and biophysical processes (e.g., erosion) in natural systems. One component of this program involves finding novel methods for data collection (e.g., unmanned aerial vehicles) that can be used to calibrate and validate models of natural systems at the resolution of decision makers. Another component of this program involves the design and construction of agent-based models to formalize our understanding of human decisions and their interaction with their environment in computer code. The most exciting, and remaining part, is coupling these two components together so that we may not only quantify the impact of representing their coupling, but more importantly to assess the impacts of changing climate, technology, and policy on human well-being, patterns of land use and land management, and ecological and biophysical aspects of our environment.

To achieve this overarching goal, my students and I conduct fieldwork that involves the use of state-of-the-art unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in combination with ground-based light detection and ranging (LiDAR) equipment, RTK global positioning system (GPS) receivers, weather and soil sensors, and a host of different types of manual measurements. We bring these data together to make methodological advancements and benchmark novel equipment to justify its use in the calibration and validation of models of natural and human processes. By conducting fieldwork at high spatial resolutions (e.g., parcel level) we are able to couple our representation of natural system processes at the scale at which human actors make decisions and improve our understanding about how they react to changes and affect our environment.

My initial training was in cadastre and geodesy (B.Eng from the Distrital University, UD, Colombia). After earning my Master’s degree in Geography (UPTC, Colombia) in 2003, I worked for the “José Benito Vives de Andreis” marine and coastal research institute (INVEMAR) and for the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). Three years later, in 2006, I left Colombia to come to Canada, where I began a PhD in Geography with a specialization in modelling complex systems at Simon Fraser University (SFU), under the direction of Dr. Suzana Dragicevic (SAMLab). In my dissertation I examined the topic of spatial and temporal modelling of insect epidemics and their complex behaviours. After obtaining my PhD in 2011, I began postdoctoral studies at the University of British Columbia (2011) and the University of Victoria (2011-2013), where I worked on issues concerning the spatial and temporal relationships between changes in indirect indicators of biodiversity and climate change.

Dr. William G. Kennedy, “Bill,” is continuing to learn in a third career, this time as an academic, a computational social scientist.

His first a career was in military service as a Naval Officer, starting with the Naval Academy, Naval PostGraduate School (as the first computer science student from the Naval Academy), and serving during the Cold War as part of the successful submarine-based nuclear deterrent. After six years of active duty service, he served over two decades in the Naval Reserves commanding three submarine and submarine-related reserve units and retiring after 30 years as a Navy Captain with several personal honors and awards.

His second career was in civilian public service: 10 years at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and 15 years with the Department of Energy. At the NRC he rose to be an advisor to the Executive Director for Operations and the authority on issues concerning the reliance on human operators for reactor safety, participating in two fly-away accident response teams. He left the NRC for a promotion and to lead, as technical director, the entrepreneurial effort to explore the use of light-water and accelerator technologies for the production of nuclear weapons materials. That work led to him becoming the senior policy officer responsible for strategic planning and Departmental performance commitments, leading development of the first several DOE strategic plans and formal performance agreements between the Secretary of Energy and the President.

Upon completion of doctoral research in Artificial Intelligence outside of his DOE work, he began his third career as a scientist. That started with a fully funded, three-year post-doctoral research position in cognitive robotics at the Naval Research Laboratory sponsored by the National Academy of Science and expanding his AI background with research in experimental Cognitive Science. Upon completion, he joined the Center for Social Complexity, part of the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University in 2008 where he is now the Senior Scientific Advisor. His research interests range from cognition at the individual level to models of millions of agents representing individual people. He is currently leading a multi-year project to characterize the reaction of the population of a mega-city to a nuclear WMD (weapon of mass destruction) event.

Dr. Kennedy holds a B.S. in mathematics from the U.S. Naval Academy, and Master of Science in Computer Science from the Naval PostGraduate School, and a Ph.D. in Information Technology from George Mason University and has a current security clearance. Dr. Kennedy is a member of Sigma Xi, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and a life member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He is a STEM volunteer with the Senior Scientists and Engineers/AAAS Volunteer Program for K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education in the DC-area schools.