CSSSA - May Webinar

A Discussion on Agent-Based Modeling in Geography

Abstract: Agent-based modeling and simulation (ABMS) has been applied far and wide to better understand our world. Each new application domain brings with it the existing cultures of the domain's experts, including expectations and requirements. As such, it is foolhardy to expect agent-based modeling to be standardized across all domains. As practitioners, there is a desire to understand how these domain cultures differ, how they use agent-based modeling, and what the future of agent-based modeling is within those domains. To start to grapple with these grand questions, for the ABMS community, we are proposing to run a series of interviews with experts from different domains to try to map the world of agent-based modeling.

Bios:
Dr. Andrew Crooks is a Professor in the Department of Geography at the University at Buffalo (UB). He holds a PhD in Geography from University College London, and prior to joining UB he was an Assistant and Associate Professor of Computational Social Science at George Mason University. Andrew's area of expertise relates to exploring and understanding cities through the lens of urban analytics. For Andrew to carry out his research, he utilizes methods from geographical information science (GIS), social network analysis (SNA) and agent-based modeling (ABM). He has published widely in these areas and along with Alison Heppenstall and others published the book "Agent-Based Modelling and Geographical Information Systems: A Practical Primer". His research has been funded by numerous US government agencies. Andrew is co-editor of Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science and serves on several leading GIS editorial boards. More information about Andrew can be found on his research website:https://www.gisagents.org/.

Dr. Alison Heppenstall is a Professor of Geocomputation within the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow. She holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Leeds and was a Lecturer and Associate Professor with the School of Geography at the University of Leeds. She is an Alan Turing Fellow. Alison's expertise is in the development of AI and ML approaches to simulating the dynamics and processes within urban areas. She is particularly fond of individual-based approaches such as microsimulation and agent-based modeling. Her other interests are in synthetic population generation, uncertainty quantification, and exascale computation. Her work has been funded by numerous UK and international agencies. She is one of the Editors of Computers, Environment and Urban Systems.