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Interdisciplinary Training in
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  • Carlos Gershenson

Carlos Gershenson: Hardening a Soft Science: An Introduction to Computational Social Science

Friday, January 25, 2019, 11:30 AM – Saturday, January 26, 2019, 12:30 PM

Dorsey Learning Hall (#1106), Luddy Hall
Bloomington, IN

Abstract

The scientific study of social phenomena was considered “soft” until recently, mainly because theories were difficult to be contrasted with data, leaving rhetorics as the main tool to decide over competing theories. However, the increasing availability of data and computational resources is beginning to allow the contrast of social theories. Previous approaches to harden social sciences had been unsuccessful because of the irreducible complexity inherent in social systems. I will show how computers have allowed the scientific study of complex systems and mention examples of computational social science projects. Given their current success, it can be foreseen that the relevance of computer science will continue increasing within the study of social systems.

Biography

Carlos Gershenson is a tenured, full time research professor at the computer science department of the Instituto de Investigaciones en Matemáticas Aplicadas y en Sistemas at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), where he leads the Self-organizing Systems Lab. He is also affiliated researcher at the Center for Complexity Sciences at UNAM, a research affiliate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (2016-), and a visiting professor at ITMO University (2015-). He was a Visiting Professor at MIT and at Northeastern University (2015-2016). He was a postdoctoral fellow at the New England Complex Systems Institute (2007-2008). He holds a PhD  summa cum laude from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium (2002-2007). His thesis was on “Design and Control of Self-organizing Systems”. He holds an MSc degree in Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems, from the University of Sussex (2001-2002), and a BEng degree in Computer Engineering from the Fundación Arturo Rosenblueth, México. (1996-2001). He studied five semesters of Philosophy at UNAM (1998-2001).

He has been an active researcher since 1997, working at the Chemistry Institute, UNAM, México, and a summer (1999) at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. He has more than a hundred scientific publications in books, journals, and conference proceedings, which have been cited more than three thousand times. He has given more than 190 presentations at conferences and research group seminars. He has a wide variety of academic interests, including complex systems, self-organization, urbanism, artificial life, evolution, cognition, artificial societies, and philosophy.

He is Editor-in-Chief of Complexity Digest and Associate Editor for the journals Complexity and Frontiers in Robotics and AI. He has worked in consulting, software and web development, teaching at undergraduate and graduate levels, and scientific divulgation and journalism.

CNS-NRT Student Discussion Seminar

  • Lead: Johan Bollen
  • Date/Time: January 22nd, 4pm
  • Location: NRT Conference Room

Papers to be discussed

  • Carreón G, Gershenson C, Pineda LA (2017) Improving public transportation systems with self-organization: A headway-based model and regulation of passenger alighting and boarding. PLOS ONE 12(12): e0190100. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0190100

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