Events
Past Event
Dirk Brockmann: Complexity, Networks and Disease Dynamics
One Book One Northwestern 2016-2017
4:00 PM
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LR4 Technological Institute
Details
The last decade has witnessed the emergence and global spread of new, often highly contagious and virulent pathogens that spread across the globe in a matter of weeks or months. Emergent infectious diseases have not only become a key threat to global public health, but carry the potential of yielding major economic crises. Understanding and predicting the geographic spread of emergent infectious diseases has become a major challenge to epidemiologists, public health organizations and policy makers. Large-scale computer simulations that integrate methods from statistical physics, complex network theory and dynamical systems theory have become a key tool in this context. Dirk Brockmann will report on state-of-the art research in this area and will focus on the role that network science plays in understanding disease dynamics in small and large scale populations.
Dirk Brockmann, Physicist and Professor at the Institute for Biology at Humboldt University of Berlin, will report on state-of-the-art research in this area and will focus on the role that network science plays in understanding disease dynamics in small and large scale populations.
This talk is co-sponsored by NICO and ESAM
Time
Monday, April 24, 2017 at 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location
LR4 Technological Institute Map
Contact
Calendar
One Book One Northwestern 2016-2017
WED@NICO SEMINAR: Mayank Agrawal, Proof of Human "The Invisible Turing Test for the Internet"
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
12:00 PM
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Lower Level, Chambers Hall
Details
Speaker:
Mayank Agrawal, Co-founder and CEO, Proof of Human
Title:
Proof of Human: the Invisible Turing Test for the Internet
Abstract:
This presentation introduces the Process Turing Test, a new framework for distinguishing humans from AI that goes beyond linguistic output to analyze behavioral dynamics. As LLMs routinely pass text-based Turing Tests, we need methods that probe the underlying architecture of intelligence through perception, control, and decision-making patterns. Using process tracing data from canonical cognitive tasks, we demonstrate how behavioral embeddings capture computational signatures unique to human cognition. This provides robust proof-of-personhood that resists adversarial attacks while revealing fundamental principles about how humans and machines process information differently.
Speaker Bio:
Mayank Agrawal is the co-founder and CEO of Proof of Human, a research and deployment company building the proof-of-human layer in digital identity. The company develops high-impact research and translates that work into systems for bot detection, fraud prevention, and continuous authentication. Mayank’s work focuses on new approaches to distinguishing humans from AI through behavioral and cognitive signals. He earned his PhD in Psychology and Neuroscience from Princeton University, where he studied computational models of human decision-making with Jonathan Cohen, Tom Griffiths, and Nathaniel Daw. His research spans cognitive science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, with work published in Science, PNAS, and Psychological Review. He previously studied Computer Science and Philosophy at Swarthmore College.
Location:
In person: Chambers Hall, 600 Foster Street, Lower Level
Remote option: https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/96392420891
About the Speaker Series:
Wednesdays@NICO is a vibrant weekly seminar series focusing broadly on the topics of complex systems, networks, and artificial intelligence. It brings together attendees ranging from graduate students to senior faculty who span all of the schools across Northwestern, from applied math to sociology to biology and every discipline in-between. Please visit: https://bit.ly/WedatNICO for information on future speakers.
Time
Wednesday, November 11, 2026 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location
Lower Level, Chambers Hall Map
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)