Course Description: One-Week Intensive Course

This course may be offered at various academic institutions throughout the US or Canada to enable students to gain a basic exposure to this new discipline.

Introduction to essential concepts of complex systems and related mathematical methods and simulation strategies with application to physical, biological and social systems. The course will particularly focus on the use of multiscale representations as a unifying approach to complex systems concepts, methods and applications.

Concepts to be discussed include: emergence, complexity, networks, self-organization, pattern formation, evolution, adaptation, fractals, chaos, cooperation, competition, attractors, interdependence, scaling, dynamic response, information, and function. Methods to be discussed include: statistical methods, cellular automata, agent-based modeling, pattern recognition, system representation and informatics.

Demonstration of the application of complex systems methods will be made through studies of:
* Social systems: education system, health care system, military system;
* Psychosocial systems: patterns of social behavior, mind, creativity, awareness;
* Biological systems: evolution, physiology, immune system, brain, cellular systems, genetic networks;
* Physical systems: meteorology

Prerequisites: No formal prerequisites are required. The course is conceptually based, and a mathematical background is not necessary.

Target audience: This course is intended for post-doctoral fellows, faculty, graduate students and others who would like to gain an understanding of the fundamentals of complex systems, and develop methodological tools for conducting research in their respective fields.

If you would like to have this course offered at your institution please contact us at programs@necsi.org.
For a list of past programs, please visit the Past Programs page.