Multiscale networks and the challenge of forecasting in techno-social systems

by Alessandro Vespignani

Indiana University

Date

Friday, April 17, 2009

Time

3:00 p.m. — 4:00 p.m.

Place

Lindley Hall 102

Abstract:   We live in an increasingly interconnected world where infrastructures composed by different technological layers are interoperating with the social component that drives their use and development. Examples are provided by the Internet, the social Web, the new WiFi communication technologies and transportation and mobility infrastructures. The multi-scale nature and complexity of these networks are crucial features in the understanding of techno-social systems and the dynamical processes occurring on top of them. I will review the recent advances and challenge in this area and how we can look forward to new forecasting infrastructures in the context of techno-social systems.  As a foremost example I will review the recent development and the major roadblocks in the computational approach to the prediction and control of emerging diseases.  In particular I will discuss the global epidemic modeler platform developed here at IU and how it is used to provide scenario forecasts for pandemic influenza and analyze the impact of human mobility and behavioral patterns on the global spreading of infectious diseases.

Biography:  Alessandro Vespignani is currently James H. Rudy Professor of Informatics and adjunct professor of Physics and Statistics at Indiana University where he is also the director of the Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research (CNetS). He has obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. After holding research positions at Yale University and Leiden University, he has been a member of the condensed matter research group at the International Center for Theoretical Physics (UNESCO) in Trieste. Before joining Indiana University Vespignani has been a faculty of the Laboratoire de Physique Théorique at the University of Paris-Sud working for the French National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS) of which he is still member at large. Vespignani is an elected fellow of the American Physical Society and is serving in the board/leadership of a variety of professional association and journals and the Institute for Scientific Interchange Foundation in Turin, Italy. 

Colloquium Provided By:

the School of Informatics