Interested in agent-based models? Join us for a series of tutorials and weekly group meetings this winter at University of Waterloo

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Agent-based models (ABMs) are simulation models that have been used to study complex systems in a wide range of academic fields including biology, computer science, environmental science, economics, geography, planning, and sociology among others. Agent-based models directly represent individual actors (agents, such as animals and plants in ecosystems, residents in cities, and cars in transportation networks), and simulate the interactions among agents and their environments, and the macroscopic patterns that emerge (patterns such as ecosystem structure, urban sprawl, and transport network congestion).

ABM group meetings

If you are interested in, or working on your own, ABM models, please join us for the weekly group meetings. The group meeting features free-form discussion of ABM models and short presentations from group members. There are also experienced Repast Simphony and Netlogo modellers ready to answer your questions.

Time: Wednesdays 2-3 p.m., February 4 to April 1.

Location:  Environment 3, Room 4268

ABM tutorials

If you want to learn how to develop your own model, please join us for a series of free tutorials over the winter. We will be using the Repast Simphony platform and the Java programming language for the tutorials. A quick two-session Java tutorial will be offered at the beginning.

Time: Mondays 2-3 p.m., February 2 to April 6 (no meeting February 16 due to Family Day)

Location:

  • February 2 - March 23 in EV3-4408
  • March 30 in Modern Languages Room 246
  • April 6 – TBD

Cost: Free!

Please contact Xiongbing Jin (x37jin@uwaterloo.ca) if you are interested in joining the group meetings or the tutorials, or if you have any questions. Please include your name, area of interest (the type of model you would like to develop/discuss) and your programming experience (for tutorial participants only). Please also indicate whether you would like to register for the group meetings, the tutorials, or both.

Tentative schedule for the ABM tutorials

Week 1: Java I: variables, methods, conditionals and loops

Week 2: Java II: objects, collections, classes and access control

Week 3: RS I: basic Repast Simphony concepts (context, agents, schedule, display, projections), agents on a continuous space

Week 4: RS II: grid projection (agents on a grid space)

Week 5: RS III: grid value layers

Week 6: RS IV: data collection and charts

Week 7: RS V: GIS projection (agents on a GIS map)

Week 8: RS VI: network projection (agents in a network)

Week 9: RS VII: parameters and batch run