Volker Grimm and Steve Railsback will present their one-week course on scientific agent-based (or individual-based) modeling May 26-30th, 2025, in Chicago. This year the course will be in partnership with the NetLogo author and the NetLogo team at Northwestern University.
The course is designed primarily to help academic and industry researchers start using (or teaching) agent-based modeling. Major topics include model design—how to determine what things should be in a model or left out; programming models in the NetLogo platform; and model analysis—how to use a working model to produce theoretical and applied understanding. The goal will be to prepare participants to use the course textbook and NetLogo’s extensive resources to become productive modelers. We expected participants to include academic faculty, graduate students, and industry and government scientists from many different fields.
The instructors have presented similar courses many times over 20 years and authored the textbook that this short course will be based on, Agent-based and Individual-based Modeling: A Practical Introduction (see: https://www.railsback-grimm-abm-book.com). Volker Grimm recently retired as a senior scientist in the Department of Ecological Modeling, Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research UFZ, Leipzig; and is professor emeritus at the University of Potsdam, Germany. Steve Railsback is an independent research consultant, adjunct professor at Cal Poly Humboldt University, and former staff scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The 2025 course will be held at Northwestern University’s law school campus in downtown Chicago. The campus is on the beautiful Lake Michigan shore and within walking distance of Navy Pier, beaches, the Loop, the historic water tower, and the North Michigan Avenue shopping district.
The course fee has not been finalized but we expect it to be approximately $950. The fee includes instruction and some social events but not lodging or meals. Any proceeds from the course will support the NetLogo team.
To apply for this course, please email the following information to [email protected]:
• Your name
• Your affiliation and position (e.g., graduate student in the Department of X at Y University; staff scientist at Z Inc.)
• A very short paragraph describing your professional interests and reason for attending the course.
We anticipate notifying applicants of their acceptance by the beginning of April.