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Weekly WPI System Dynamics Digest: Keeping people in the loop

Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2020 9:04 am
by Administrator
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News and Updates
Information Session on WPI Online Graduate Programs Event
Thu, Nov 19th 12PM EST
If you want to major in engineering or data science, then check out these WPI online programs. You can sign up to take system dynamics courses while specializing in your domain/application area. Students in the Civil Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, the School of Business, Systems Engineering, Supply Chain, etc. have taken SD courses
Details
The Centre for Systems Studies at the University of Hull in the UK has a PhD scholarship to work on "Systems Thinking for Land Use Policy Making"
Deadline: Tue, Jan 5th, 2021
Details
On Friday, Nov 6th, we viewed isee systems' 2019 video of Dr. Jim Hines presenting "Introducing Molecules with Stella®" and had a discussion (starting at ~ 45 min) about molecules and modeling methods. I hope to continue the discussion of how people model and learn system dynamics at a later date. Do you look at the award winning applications? Use the molecules? Start with stocks?
isee systems posted Karim Chichakly's "Systems Thinking for Public Policy: A Case Study in Brazil" presentation
Strategy Dynamics posted Kim Warren's "From Strategy to Digital-Twin models" presentation
The following are interesting models and articles that are new to me (but have been available for weeks/months?)
Turgay Ayer, Jagpreet Chhatwal, Benjamin Linas, et al.'s COVID-19 Simulator
Thor Olavsrud's "5 famous analytics and AI disasters"
Review of Chaos and Dynamical Systems by David P. Feldman
Erin C.S. Acquesta, Walt Beyeler, Pat Finley, Katherine Klise, Monear Makvandi, and Emma Stanislawski's "Modeling Resource Demands and Constraints for COVID-19 Intervention Strategies"
See the end of this digest for a quote, modeling tip, or poem. Please let me know what you think about this new section
For other System Dynamics news, see the latest news section on the System Dynamics Society's home page. Here is the link to past WPI System Dynamics Digests

Reminders and Requests
Spring 2021 WPI System Dynamics Graduate Courses
SD 550. System Dynamics Foundation: Managing Complexity
SD 557. Latent Structures, Unintended Consequences and Policy
SD 562. Project Dynamics
If you are not enrolled in a WPI program, you can still take classes as a non-WPI student
Tuition and International Payment Information
3 credit hour/course * $1,610/credit hour = $4,830/course (+ $60 graduate fee)
Review Requests
Khalid Saeed's (saeed@wpi.edu)
People Express
Prof. Saeed will use this in his undergrad course SS 1505: Games for Understanding Complexity
"Fishy" Banks: A Game about Human Trafficking
Developed by two WPI undergrad students
Advised by Prof. Saeed and Prof. Renata Konrad
Working paper "Why Forrester wished to replace both differential equations and economics?"
Francisco "Paco" Araujo's
MIES Project model which investigates the dynamics of research, knowledge, and understanding
Arctic Social-Environmental System model which he built as a result of the International System Dynamics Conference (ISDC) 2020 workshop "Peace Engineering in the Arctic: Accommodating diverse interests in a changing environment"
Büşra Atamer Balkan, Hector Menendez, Andreas Nicolaidis, Kelechi Odoemena, Robert Lamb, Monique Ann Tiongco, Stueti Gupta, and Arpitha Peteru's "Understanding the Impact of COVID19 on Agriculture and Food Supply Chains: System Dynamics Modeling for the Resilience of Smallholder Farmers”
Survey Requests
System Dynamics Society (SDS) survey
SDS Student Chapter survey on the SD Colloquium
The Operational Research (OR) Society is looking to create a network of independent consultants working in OR and systems thinking
Listen to or read the transcripts to SD-cast's "What is your SDory?" series using the button below:
SD-cast: What is your SDory?
SD-cast is also available on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts


COVID News/Resources
System Dynamics Society's COVID-19 page
Feel free to add videos to this COVID-19 simulation models YouTube playlist
Turgay Ayer, Jagpreet Chhatwal, Benjamin Linas, et al.'s COVID-19 Simulator
Mohammad S Jalali, Catherine DiGennaro, and Devi Sridhar's "Transparency assessment of COVID-19 models"
Raafat Zaini's presentation videos:
"Simulating the COVID19 Pandemic a Facebook Live AMA with special guest Raafat Zaini on 9/18/2020."
"COVID-10 The Systems Thinking Way: Dynamic Behavior & Feedback Structures Perspective"
Büşra Atamer Balkan, Hector Menendez, Andreas Nicolaidis, Kelechi Odoemena, Robert Lamb, Monique Ann Tiongco, Stueti Gupta, and Arpitha Peteru request feedback on their preprint "Understanding the Impact of COVID19 on Agriculture and Food Supply Chains: System Dynamics Modeling for the Resilience of Smallholder Farmers”
Kim Warren released version 4 of his COVID-19 model and created a short course explaining the model
Navid Ghaffarzadegan's "Simulation-Based What-If Analysis for Controlling the Spread of Covid-19 in Universities" article is available online
AnyLogic blog post on "COVID-19 and Simulation" has videos and links to other posts on System Dynamics and Agent-Based Models
Ali Asgary and Mahdi M. Najafabadi's "Drive Through Mass Vaccination Sim for COVID-19" Agent-Based and Discrete-Event Simulation model
Julie Swann and Pinar Keskinocak presented "How to Model 'Diseases' and Use those Models to Drive Timely Decisions and Actions that Produce Rapid Benefits." Prof. Keskinocak presented an Agent-Based model
Apply your systems understanding & problem-solving skills in full-scale complexity, where it matters. Come help today, join with Yaneer Bar-Yam to end the pandemic at http://EndCoronavirus.org. Humanity will be glad you did. - Tomás Gutiérrez
Join The Modeling and Simulation Coronavirus Pandemic Task Force
Join the COVID-19 Resources (Systems Community) Facebook group
For more COVID-19 modeling resources, see
CDC spreadsheet-based tools for:
state and local policy makers to compare different contact tracing strategies
hospital admins and public health officials to estimate demand
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's resources page
Framework for Equitable Allocation of COVID-19 Vaccine report in early Oct
Videos to Confronting Urgent Threats to Human Health & Society: COVID-19 and Climate Change (NAM Annual Meeting)
The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics' (SIAM)
Mathematical Resources to Help Understand COVID-19 page
Report on Future Research Directions for NSF in the Era of COVID-19
Erin C.S. Acquesta, Walt Beyeler, Pat Finley, Katherine Klise, Monear Makvandi, and Emma Stanislawski's "Modeling Resource Demands and Constraints for COVID-19 Intervention Strategies"
INFORMS' Information on COVID-19 and Pandemics page
The Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE)'s Coronavirus Resource & Response page

Job Opportunities
Adjunct Part-Time Faculty in System Dynamics
Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Social Science and Policy Studies Department
Positions filled on an add needed basis
Start dates vary by course and semester
Details
Assistant, Associate and Full Professor (tenure track) positions in systems modeling and simulation
Naval Postgraduate School's Operations Research Department
Application Deadline: Tue, Dec 1
Details
Lecturer
Purdue University's Purdue Systems Collaboratory and College of Engineering
Full-time, Academic Year (9 month)
Job Begins: Jan 2021
Details
Research Associate
Case Western University's Center for Community Health Integration
Details
Assistant, Associate and Full Professor
Case Western University's Center for Community Health Integration
Details
Associate Professor in System Dynamics
University of Bergen
Details
Management Consultants specializing in system dynamics and advanced analytics
Sage Analysis Group
1-page overview
Details
Research Associate
Systems Engineering Research Center
Details
See the SD Society's Career Link page which has more job postings

Upcoming System Dynamics/Dynamical Systems/Systems Thinking Events
The Waters Center for Systems Thinking's Studio Series
6 sessions on Tuesdays, Nov 10 - Dec 15
Nov 10, 17, 24
Dec 1, 8, 15
Leading for Impactful Change
9AM - 11AM PDT // 11AM - 1PM EST (Boston time)
$300/person
Introduction to Systems Thinking
2PM - 4PM PDT // 4PM - 6PM (Boston time)
$300/person
Details
Climate Interactive's "Business Engagement with En-ROADS 101: Sparking Sustainable Action in the Business Sector"
Tue, Nov 10th 11AM EST? (Boston time)
Details
The City University of New York's Center for Systems and Community Design and the NYU-CUNY Prevention Research Center hosts Peter Hovmand in their Systems Change Lecture Series. He will present
Implementation Science and Complexity Science at a Crossroads
Wed, Nov 11th 11AM - Noon (Boston time)
Details
The System Dynamics Society (SDS) hosts Linda Booth Sweeney who will present
Online Hacks for The Systems Thinking Playbook Games: A Community Conversation
Thu, Nov 12th 11AM (Boston time)
Free for SDS members / $25 for non-members
Detail
One World Dynamics Seminars
Monthly Dynamical Systems (DS) seminars
2nd Friday of each month
Two Talks
9-9:45 AM (Boston time) Talk towards a general DS audience, "set[s] the scene for the"
9:45-10:30AM (Boston time) Specialized talk
Fri, Nov 13th: Multiscale dynamical systems
9:00 AM (Boston time) Alexander Mielke will present "Convergence for multiscale gradient systems with applications to fast-slow reaction systems"
9:45 AM (Boston time) Riccarda Rossi will present "Balanced viscosity solutions to (multi)rate-independent systems"
Details
Climate Interactive's "Business Engagement with En-ROADS 101: Tackling Climate Transition Risk"
Fri, Nov 13th 11AM EST? (Boston time)
Details
WPI System Dynamics Collective Learning Meeting
Fri, Nov 13th 12PM - 1PM (Boston time)
Details TBA
The Machine Learning and Dynamical Systems special interest group at the Alan Turing Institute's inaugural lecture by Weinan E
Wed, Nov 18th 10AM UK time // 5AM Boston time
Details
University of Hull's Centre for System Studies Seminar: Re-appraising Alexander Bogdanov's Contribution to Systems Thinking
Wed, Nov 18th 11:30AM - 1:30PM (Boston time)
Details
8th Annual System Dynamics Conference in South Africa - Integrated System Dynamics for Investing in the Future
Wed, Nov 18th - Thu, Nov 19th
Details
Various Systems Thinking Events

Call for Papers/Abstracts/Grants
Simulation Modeling and Systems Science to Address Health Disparities Grant
Expiration date: May 8th, 2023
Details
2021 IISE Annual Conference & Expo - Modeling & Simulation Track
Deadline: Sun, Nov 15th
Details
11th Annual International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Deadline: Thu, Nov 20th
Details
SIAM Conference on Applications of Dynamical Systems (DS21)
Deadline for Minisymposium Proposal: Mon, Nov 23rd
Deadline for Contributed Lecture, Poster and Minisymposium Presentation Abstracts: Mon, Dec 7th
Details
Socio-Economic Planning Sciences Special Issue on Food Loss and Waste Management During COVID-19: Exploring the Major Challenges and Future Directions along the Food Supply Chain
Deadline: Thu, Dec 31st
Details
10th OR Society Simulation Workshop 2021 (SW21)
Deadline for posters: Tue, Jan 12th
Details
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Special Issue on Sustainability and Resilience in Health: The Role of Performance Management
Deadline: Sun, Jan 31st
Details
SIAM conference on Control and Its Applications (CT21)
Deadline for Minisymposium Proposal: Wed, Jan 13th
Deadline for Contributed Lecture, Poster and Minisymposium Presentation Abstracts: Wed, Feb 3rd
Details
Systems Special Issue on System Dynamics and Quantitative Methods for the Analysis of Societal Threats
Deadline: Sun, Feb 14th
Details
31st European Conference on Operational Research
Deadline: Sun, Feb 28th
Details
Other Upcoming Events
AnyLogic Events
2020 INFORMS Annual Meeting
Nov 7th - 13th
Details
COVID-19 and K-12 Schools: Updates From the Field
Mon, Nov 9th Noon - 1:30PM (Boston time)
Details
Winter Simulation Conference 2020
Dec 14th - 18th
Details
11th Annual International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Mar 9th - 11th
Details
Provide suggestions for the digest or any type of feedback on WPI SD services by emailing Christine Tang, ctang@wpi.edu, replying to this email or writing anonymously through:

Feedback Form

We prefer sharing free articles/videos/etc. so we do not exclude folks who are interested in SD/ST but do not have access to articles.

Well wishes,
Christine Tang
WPI System Dynamics Social Media Manager


p.s. Below is an excerpt from 00:27:33 - 00:29:18 in the Forrester Seminar Series Session C: Corporate Growth (tape 1).

I believe we understand the intangibles much more thoroughly than we realize we did. In other words, people operating in the business are aware of what I call the intangibles. They talk about them. They debate them. They only become somewhat uncomfortable when you talk about quantifying them but as soon as somebody can say that honesty...he’s more honest than the other person. Now, you have set up a relative scaling and you can have any kind of an arbitrary scale. You can have a linear scale, a logarithmic one. You can go from 0 to 10 or 0 to 1 or 0 to 100. It doesn’t make any difference. You activate it by saying “This is what I mean by 70. This is what I mean by 30.” Now, it’s only important that you use the output of that scale in a way that goes along with the insights that people have. Now, all of this is subjective but again I say that if everyone believes that these variables are important, it is much better to put them into the best of our estimates than it is to leave them out, which is equivalent to saying they don’t matter and so the argument against the people who say “Well, you haven’t any data as to support the particular assumption” is to say “Do you have any data to say that it has no effect?"

- Jay Forrester

You can purchase the seminar series through the System Dynamics Society's page