Computer Science & Engineering Colloquia Series
Agent-based Modeling,
NetLogo, and Killer Whales
Presented by Dr. Matthew T. Dickerson
Abstract: Since the 1940s, computer modeling and simulation has been one of the most important motivating applications in the development of modern computers.
However agent-based modeling (ABM) is a relatively new
and fast-growing sub-discipline with important applications in natural science, social science, and gaming. In
ABMs, algorithmic decision-making is done by numerous
autonomous agents acting on “local" information (usually
in a spatial context) rather than by a single algorithm
making decisions using complex formulas based on global knowledge. This talk will present some ideas behind
agent-based modeling demonstrated using a special purpose agent-based modeling language called NetLogo. The speaker will end by sharing some of his own research on ABMs
of killer whales. Bio: Matthew Dickerson is a professor of computer science at Middlebury College in Vermont where he has
been since 1989. He holds a PhD in computer science from Cornell University and has published dozens of
research papers in computational algebra, computational geometry, graph drawing, data structures, algorithms for geographic networks, and computer science education. His current research on teaching agentbased modeling has been supported by a three-year NSF grant DUE-1044806.
Wednesday, October 15, 2014 in ENGR 228 11:30am‐1:00pm For more informa on, please contact Dr. Mar n Cenek ([email protected])