Kenneth D. Aiello is a postdoctoral research scholar with the Global BioSocial Complexity Initiative at ASU. Kenneth’s research contributes to cross disciplinary conversations on how historical developments in biological, social, and cultural knowledge systems are governed by processes that transform the structure, dynamics, and function of complex systems. Applying computational historical analysis and epistemology to question what scientific knowledge is and how we can analyze changes in knowledge, he uses text analysis, social network analysis, and machine learning to measure similarities and differences between the knowledge claims of individual agents and groups. His work builds on how to assess contested knowledge claims and measure the evolution of knowledge across complex systems and multiple dimensions of scale. This approach also engages in dynamic new debates about global and local structures of knowledge shaped by technological innovation within microbiology related to public policy, shrinking resources given to biomedical ideas as opposed to “translation”, and the ethics of scientific discovery. Using interdisciplinary methods for understanding historical content and context rich narratives contributes to understanding new domains and major transitions in science and provides a richer understanding of how knowledge emerges.
Electrical and Computer Engineer (NTU, Athens), M.Sc. and Ph.D. on Artificial Intelligence (Univ. Paris VI, France). Formerly senior researcher in the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (NTU, Athens). I have taught a variety of courses on intelligent, complex and biological systems and cognitive science. I have participated in numerous national and european R&D projects and I have authored about a hundred articles in journals, books and conference proceedings, at least half of them as a single author. I am frequent reviewer for journals, conferences and research grants. My research interests lie on the intersection of biological, complex and cognitive systems and applications.
Area: Complex Biological, Social and Sociotechnical Systems
Specific focus: Origins of intelligent behavior
I am interested in the study of small-group decision-making using agent-based simulation of models grounded in sociological social psychology. I am also interested in a particular kind of small-group decision-making: peer review.
Application of complexity science and organizational culture to healthcare performance
My main research interests are agent-based modeling, simulation of social complexity, computational social choice, distributed systems and applied artificial intelligence.
Sudhira’s research has been primarily on urban land-use and land cover change studies exploring their consequences on environmental sustainability and understanding their inter-relationship with transportation. His broader research addresses the evolution and growth of towns and cities invoking complexity sciences, understanding planning practices and studying the effect of varied governance structures.
I am strongly interested in ecological modeling and complex system and truly enjoyed working with a variety of tools to uncover patterns in empirical data and explore their ecological and evolutionary consequences. My primary research is to conduct research in the field of ‘ecological complexity’, including the development of appropriate descriptive measure to quantify the structural, spatial and temporal complexity of ecosystem and the identification of the mechanism that generate this complexity, through modeling and field studies.
Currently investigated is how biological characteristics of invasive species (dispersal strategies and demographic processes) interact with abiotic variables and resource distribution to determine establishment success and spread in a complex heterogeneous environment (Individual based modelling integrated with GIS technologies).
Moira Zellner’s academic background lies at the intersection of Urban and Regional Planning, Environmental Science, and Complexity. She has served as Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator in interdisciplinary projects examining how specific policy, technological and behavioral factors influence the emergence and impacts of a range of complex socio-ecological systems problems, where interaction effects make responsibilities, burdens, and future pathways unclear. Her research also examines how participatory complex systems modeling with stakeholders and decision-makers can support collaborative policy exploration, social learning, and system-wide transformation. Moira has taught a variety of workshops on complexity-based modeling of socio-ecological systems, for training of both scientists and decision-makers in the US and abroad. She has served the academic community spanning across the social and natural sciences, as reviewer of journals and grants and as a member of various scientific organizations. She is dedicated to serving the public through her engaged research and activism.
Applications of agent-based modeling to urban and environmental planning
Participatory modeling
BIGSSS-Departs PhD Fellow
Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences / Jacobs University (Germany)
PhD project: Residential Segregation and Intergenerational Immigrant Integration: A Schelling-Esser Model
Italian PhD fellow, fond of social complexity and agent-based modeling, applied to residential segregation and integration processes
Research Interests: Agent-based modeling, migrant integration, residential segregation