Regular activities

The Center for the Study of Complex Systems (CSCS)
Location: Randall Lab, Rooms 4777-4485

Personnel:

Activities:

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Seminars and Workshops

• Weekly Seminar: Faculty both from within The University of Michigan and outside UM speak on their complex systems research. This seminar meets every Thursday from 4-5 in 231 West Hall. In the Fall Term 1999, CSCS cosponsors a seminar on Evolution, Economics, Biology, and Game Theory, that meets Tuesdays 4-5 on the sixth floor of ISR. In the Winter Term of 2000, CSCS cosponsors a seminar on Evolution and Adaptation that also meets Tuesdays 4-5 on the sixth floor of ISR.
• Annual Santa Fe Institute/UMCSCS Workshop: Every November CSCS hosts a workshop on some aspect of complex systems research. This workshop includes significant participation from faculty and administrators from the Santa Fe Institute.
• Nobel Symposium: Each January CSCS organizes a two-day symposium in which UM faculty describe the work and the workers that had just won the Nobel Prizes.
• Complex Systems Reading Group: Graduate students and occasionally some faculty with a special interest in complex systems read and discuss current research in the area, meeting in a round table session every two weeks.

Academic Business Consortium

Research Support

• Bringing in consultants and speakers from outside the University
• Organizing seminars and workshops in the topic under study
• Writing grant applications
• Catalyzing and organizing regular group meetings
• Coordinating with other complex system research groups at UM and at SFI
• Designing and using computer simulation techniques, especially through the CSCS Computer Lab
• Keeping abreast of current theory and techniques in complex systems

Education

• Certificate Program: Graduate students at The University of Michigan can earn a Certificate in Complex Systems. Students in this program take four core courses: dynamic modeling, simulation, dynamical systems, and nonlinear data analysis, and a fifth course on complex systems models in some particular discipline. For more detailed list of core courses and related courses, please press here.
• Undergraduate LSA Minor and Individually-Organized Major: CSCS does not oversee any undergraduate courses. With guidance from CSCS, some students have developed lists of courses in complex systems that would satisfy the new LSA guidelines for an undergraduate minor. Others have put together a complex systems curriculum for an individually-organized LSA major.
• The Genre Evolution Project: English Professor Eric Rabkin and CSCS Director Carl Simon co-teach an undergraduate seminar on genre evolution. Currently, the genre under consideration is American short story science fiction. Students read short stories, codify them according to a previously agreed upon classification system, and use statistical and complex systems techniques to look for patterns both among characteristics and over time. See Eric Rabkin's web page for more details.
• CSCS Computer Lab: Many graduate students around the university write Ph.D. theses that use a complex systems approach. These students usually spend significant amounts of time working with Rick Riolo in the CSCS Computing Lab. In addition, Rick regularly teaches workshops on the use of simulation software, such as SWARM, both during the academic year and in the ICPSR program during the summer.