CINA Distinguished Speaker Series – Andrew Crooks

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The Criminal Investigations and Network Analysis Center (CINA) Distinguished Speaker Series invites leading experts from fields related to the disruption of criminal activities across the physical and cyber spaces. Join us one Thursday each month to learn from and interact with these thought leaders.

Join us on Thursday, October 17th from 12:00-1:30 PM for a discussion about Agent-Based Modeling with Dr. Andrew Crooks, Associate Professor with the Department of Computational and Data Sciences and the Department of Geography and GeoInformation Science at George Mason University. The talk will take place in Exploratory Hall 3301 on the Fairfax campus. Refreshments will be available.

Utilizing Agent-based Models and Open Data to Examine the Movement of People and Information: A Gallery of Applications.

Today we are awash with many new forms of open data (e.g. crowdsourced, social media), but we are still challenged with how individuals make decisions and how this leads to more aggregate patterns emerging. One way to explore how individuals make decisions, or are impacted by information and their resulting consequences, is via agent-based modeling. Agent-based modeling allows for simulating heterogenous actors and their decision-making processes within complex systems. Through a series of example applications ranging from the small-scale movement of pedestrians over seconds, to that of the movement of people over borders over hours and days, I will demonstrate how open data can be leveraged within the agent-based building process. Specifically, the examples will show that by focusing on individuals, or groups of individuals and the networks that connect them, more aggregate patterns emerge from the bottom up.

Dr. Andrew Crooks received his PhD. in Geography from University College London in 2007 and is currently an Associate Professor of Computational Social Science with a joint appointment between the Departments of Computational and Data Sciences and Geography and GeoInformation Science at George Mason University. His research focuses on exploring and understanding the natural and socio-economic environments specifically urban areas using GIS, spatial analysis, social network analysis and agent-based modeling methodologies. He has published over 100 fully refereed journal papers, book chapters and conference papers collecting over 4,000 citations to his work; and in 2019 published a book entitled “Agent-based Modelling and Geographical Information Systems: A Practical Primer.” See further details about his research.

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