Education: Courses

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People learn by doing and implementing and interacting. The foundational theory of CASoS Engineering integrates research, development, and application in its iterative process. We believe that CASoS Engineering theory and practice must be conducted together to develop a discipline that is both grounded in reality and works to extend our understanding and control of that reality.

Generally, students attending our short courses come with diverse backgrounds, including:

• complexity

• basic and standard scientific and engineering fields

• computer scientists and engineers, software engineers, and programmers

• project managers

• domain experts

Generally, the short course introduces what we call CASoS Engineering: the design of influence within CASoS (or the design of a CASoS itself) to solve a problem or achieve a goal. Essential to this endeavor is the modeling of the CASoS such that influences (or solutions) may be found that are robust to uncertainty and that will achieve their goals. This course covers:

• The definition of CASoS and CASoS Engineering

• Our conceptual lens for modeling CASoS that renders a system as sets of behavioral entities that interact with others within static to dynamic networks

• Example applications of CASoS modeling and influence design pulled from our work and the work of others

• A bibliography of supporting readings is provided and students are assigned an independent project that extends or applies the concepts presented in the lectures

 

Full Semester Graduate/Post-Graduate Complexity Course

Stanford University, Spring 2012

Modeling Complex Systems, MS&E 228
Conceived and taught by Robert J Glass, CISAC 2011-2012 Perry Fellow and Senior Scientist Sandia National Laboratories

 

Short Course in Complex Adaptive Systems of Systems (CASoS) Modeling and Engineering

Università di Roma "La Sapienza," 18-21 October 2010

Instructors: Robert J Glass and Walter E Beyeler, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.

• Day 1: Overview

  • CASoS and CASoS Engineering

  • Complexity primer (SOC, HOT, Networks)
    

  • Conceptual lens and application to simple infrastructure examples (power grids, payment systems, congestive failure) and other ongoing investigations

• Day 2: Discussion of Formulation of Models of Payment Systems

• Day 3: Design of Community Containment for Pandemic Influenza

• Day 4: Applying the Process: Model Development

• Demonstration problem

• How/where to get software (Repast and Vensim)

Orientation 2011

A series of two-hour orientation seminars were presented for CASoS student interns over a two-week period in June 2011. Topics included:

• Systems Modeling and Complex Adaptive Systems of Systems (CASoS) Engineering, Bob Glass

• An Introduction to Loki-Infect: An Agent-Based Model for Engineering Strategies to Mitigate the Impact of Infuenza Epidemics, Daniel Cannon and Jacob Hobbs

• Evaluation of policy options using uncertainty analysis of complex-system model results, Pat Finley

• Application of Complex Adaptive Systems of Systems Engineering to Tobacco Products, Nancy Brodsky

• Developing a theory of the societal lifecycle of cigarette smoking: Explaining and anticipating trends using information feedback, Aldo Zagonel

• Extending Opinion Dynamics to Model Public Health Problems and Analyze Public Policy Interventions, Tom Moore

• Modeling Population Dynamics, Steve Verzi and Sasha Outkin

• Resource Exchange Model, Walt Beyeler