Speaker:

Daniel Abrams, Professor of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics and (by courtesy) Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University

Title:

Tractable mathematical modeling of social systems: some successes and failures

Abstract:

This talk will be an overview of various problems my group has worked on and approaches we've taken to mathematical modeling of social systems, including approaches that were unsuccessful. We define a system as "social" if dynamics for the individual are inextricably tied to the dynamics of the group. Some problems in this category include evolutionary dynamics (e.g., animal ornamentation, the evolution of human left-handedness), social group competition (e.g., language death, the growth of religiously unaffiliated populations), and the geographic spread of ideas (e.g., internet adoption, contagion of smoking behavior or obesity).

Speaker Bio:

Danny Abrams is co-director of NICO as well as a professor of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics at Northwestern University. He holds a B.S. in Applied Physics from Caltech, a Ph.D. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from Cornell University, and was an NSF Math Sciences postdoctoral fellow as well as a Fulbright Scholar and James S. McDonnell Foundation grantee. Danny's research interests include the study of synchronization, mathematical geoscience, and mathematical modeling of social systems.

Location:

In person: Chambers Hall, 600 Foster Street, Lower Level
Remote option: https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/98183822887
Passcode: NICO23

About the Speaker Series:

Wednesdays@NICO is a vibrant weekly seminar series focusing broadly on the topics of complex systems and data science. 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.

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