Understanding Complex Systems......one model at a time
The MoBS laboratory is home to research projects aiming at developing innovative mathematical models and computational tools to better understand, anticipate and control large-scale complex networks and systems. The laboratory, directed by Alessandro Vespignani, has joint affiliations with the Department of Physics, the Department of Health Sciences and the College of Computer and Information Sciences at Northeastern University.
The types of problems that we work on include developing data-driven models for the spread of infectious diseases; studying social human behavior; modeling the evolution of complex social and technological networks; mining usage and traffic patterns in technological networks such as the Web and the Internet; studying the interaction between social dynamics and online behaviors.
Within Northeastern University we have close collaborations with the Lazer Laboratory and the Center for Complex Networks Research. We are associated with the Social Cognitive Networks Academic Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Institute for Quantitative Social Sciences at Harvard University. The Laboratory is also part of the Complex Networks Collaboratory together with the Institute for Scientific Interchange in Torino, Italy, and the Centre de Physique Théorique at the University of Marseille, France.
The types of problems that we work on include developing data-driven models for the spread of infectious diseases; studying social human behavior; modeling the evolution of complex social and technological networks; mining usage and traffic patterns in technological networks such as the Web and the Internet; studying the interaction between social dynamics and online behaviors.
Within Northeastern University we have close collaborations with the Lazer Laboratory and the Center for Complex Networks Research. We are associated with the Social Cognitive Networks Academic Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Institute for Quantitative Social Sciences at Harvard University. The Laboratory is also part of the Complex Networks Collaboratory together with the Institute for Scientific Interchange in Torino, Italy, and the Centre de Physique Théorique at the University of Marseille, France.
Research Projects
MoBS research activity is focused on the study of “techno-social” systems, where infrastructures composed of different technological layers are interoperating within the social component that drives their use and development. In this context we aim at understanding how the very same elements assembled in large number can give rise – according to the various forces and elements at play – to different macroscopic and dynamical behaviors opens the path to quantitative computational approaches and forecasting power.
Our main research lines are:
Our main research lines are:
- Modeling contagion processes in structured populations.
- Developing predictive computational tools for the analysis of the spatial spread of emerging diseases.
- Analyze the dynamics and evolution of information and social networks.
- Model the adaptive behavior of social systems.
- Develop analytical and computational models for the coevolution and interdependence of large-scale social, technological and biological networks.
 Epidemics in structured populations |
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 Conversation in online social networks |
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