Agent-Based Modeling

 
This course offers a brief introduction to agent-based modeling (ABM), a technique that allows researchers to understand and represent interactions and complexity in nearly every field imaginable. ABM can augment traditional statistical approaches and explore questions that are difficult to test empirically. This course will walk participants through the background that novice modelers need in order to begin to translate their research goals into agent-based simulation models. Participants will learn about how ABM – and other simulation approaches – may or may not be useful for understanding a variety of problems and questions. We will go through a step-by step, hands-on approach to conceptualizing, creating, implementing, and analyzing simulation models.

Instructor Bio:
Todd BenDor is a Professor of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research and teaching focus on developing ways to better understand and prevent impacts from urban growth on sensitive environmental systems. Much of his recent research has studied the social, economic, and ecological consequences of ecosystem service markets and ecological restoration regulations. He has also developed computer models to assess the opportunities and consequences of urban growth, as well as promote environmental conflict resolution. Professor BenDor is a faculty member in UNC’s Curriculum for the Environment and Ecology. He holds a B.S. from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, an M.S. from Washington State University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Register here.

There is no fee for this course, but registration is required to secure your spot!

• Note: You may bring a laptop for this course but the software is installed on the classroom computers.