Director of Partnerships and External Programs, Vermont Complex Systems Center, UVM

Juniper Lovato is the Director of partnerships and external programs at the Vermont Complex Systems Center at UVM where she organizes Complex Systems programs and thinks about multi-scale data ethics. Previously, she was the Director of Education for the Santa Fe Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico where she was born and raised (on a rural family compound populated by hippies and Spanish/Swedish folk musicians, yup they had a dance pavilion). In her free time she makes/supports makerspaces.

Current Research Interests: Multi-Scale Data Ethics, Distributed Consent, Ethics of Science and Technology, Complex Systems, Data Science, Online Counter-publics

University of Vermont and MassMutual Center of Excellence
MassMutual Center of Excellence and the Vermont Complex Systems Center, Data Visualization Artist

Adams collaborates with fellow team members at the Vermont Complex Systems Center to make the complex comprehensible through engaging visualizations. As a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Emergent Media student at Champlain College, her graduate thesis work celebrates the relationship between science and the arts through trans-disciplinary graphical explorations of holonic and cybernetic systems. Jane also has a passion for exhibit designs that support participatory culture.

University of Vermont, College of Engineering & Mathematical Sciences, Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering

Almassalkhi's research interests lie at the intersection of power systems, optimization, and controls. Almassalkhi works on developing novel feedback and optimization algorithms that improve resilience of power systems, which is increasingly more important as power systems are operating closer and closer to their limits.

Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Assistant Professor, UVM

Bagrow's interests include: Complex Networks (community detection, social modeling and human dynamics, statistical phenomena, graph similarity and isomorphism), Statistical Physics (non-equilibrium methods, phase transitions, percolation, interacting particle systems, spin glasses), and Optimization(glassy techniques such as simulated/quantum annealing, (non-gradient) minimization of noisy objective functions).

Department of Computer Science, Professor, UVM

Bongard's work focuses on understanding the general nature of cognition, regardless of whether it is found in humans, animals or robots. This unique approach focuses on the role that morphology and evolution plays in cognition. Addressing these questions has taken him into the fields of biology, psychology, engineering and computer science.

Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Vermont

I direct the UVM Neurobotics Lab, an interdisciplinary group of thinkers and do-ers who draw inspiration from biological systems to design machine learning algorithms for artificial neural networks. We focus on creating more flexible, scalable, and context-aware robots and decision-making systems through a variety of techniques like deep learning, reinforcement learning, evolutionary adaptation, development, and meta-learning.

In addition to our role as an algorithm factory, our lab also strives to use machine learning to accelerate science -- connecting with outstanding researchers and practitioners from various fields (like medicine, agriculture, and environmental science) to collectively make a positive impact on our society.

Though I thoroughly enjoy being an interdisciplinary being, I am glad to have found a home in the Vermont Complex Systems Center. My path to get here was incredibly fun and highlights my wide variety of academic interests and passion for bringing them together, most notably during a PhD in Computational Biology and Biological Statistics at Cornell, advised by Hod Lipson & Steve Strogatz.

Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Flint Professor of Mathematical, Natural, and Technical Sciences, UVM

Chris is an applied mathematician interested in modeling a variety of physical, biological, and social phenomenon. He has applied principles of chaos theory to improve weather forecasts as a member of the Mathematics and Climate Research Network, and developed a real-time remote sensor of global happiness using messages from Twitter: the Hedonometer. Danforth co-runs the Computational Story Lab with Peter Dodds.

Department of Computer Science, Research Professor in Computer Science, UVM

Eppstein’s research interests involve developing and applying complex systems methods (including evolutionary and agent-based computation, artificial neural networks, and complex network methods) to problems in a variety of biological, environmental, technological, and sociological domains.

Department of Psychology/Psychiatry, Associate Professor, UVM

Hugh's research applies functional brain imaging to understanding human cognition. He has a specific interest in the cognitive control functions performed by the prefrontal cortex and how their dysfunction might be relevant for clinical conditions such as addiction.

Department of Economics, Professor, UVM

Dr. Gibson's main interest, in both his teaching and research, is building and simulating macroeconomic models for developing countries. As a second area of interest is NASA, space policy and the aerospace industry. This is an outgrowth of one of the principals themes running throughout his teaching and his research, the proper relationship between the private and public sectors.

Department of Philosophy, Associate Professor, UVM

I am a professor of philosophy at the University of Vermont. My main research interests are in the philosophy of action (particularly collective action, free will, and decision theory) and in the philosophy of social science. My research engages with questions of the proper way to characterize individual versus collective goals, and of the proper way for a model of deliberation to incorporate these goals such that we can account for collective action. I am also interested in the explanatory powers of collective entities (including questions of how much reduction can be had of those collective entities, and of the form that the reduction takes). My other research interests include the explanatory adequacy of rational choice models of human agency, and of the nature of explanation in the behavioral sciences.

Computer Science, Assistant Professor, UVM

Laurent studies the interaction of structure and dynamics. His research involves network theory, statistical physics and nonlinear dynamics along with their applications in epidemiology, ecology, biology, and sociology. Recent projects include comparing complex networks of different nature, the coevolution of human behavior and infectious diseases, understanding the role of forest shape in determining stability of tropical forests, as well as the impact of echo chambers in political discussions.

School of Engineering, Associate Professor, UVM

Hines's work broadly focuses on finding ways to make electric energy more reliable, more affordable, with less environmental impact. Particular topics of interest include understanding the mechanisms by which small problems in the power grid become large blackouts, identifying and mitigating the stresses caused by large amounts of electric vehicle charging, and quantifying the impact of high penetrations of wind/solar on electricity systems.

Meredith Niles is an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences and the Food Systems Program at the University of Vermont. Her research focuses on sustainable food security from a behavioral science and policy perspective primarily using large datasets. Specifically, she explores the adoption of sustainable practices by farmers, how climate change and other extreme events (i.e. COVID-19) will affect food systems and food access, and potential food and agriculture pathways for improving health and environmental outcomes. Meredith holds a B.A in political science with honors in environmental studies from The Catholic University of America and a PhD in ecology with a focus on human ecology and environmental policy from the University of California- Davis. She was a Sustainability Science post-doctorate fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Prior to her academic career she worked in public health at the United States Department of State on the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and several food/environment non-profits. She is passionate about making academic research more publicly available through advocating for open access and science, serving on the board of directors since 2014 for the Public Library of Science (PLOS), one of the world’s largest non-profit open access academic publishers.

Spatial Analysis Laboratory, Director, UVM

Jarlath O’Neil-Dunne is the Director of the University of Vermont’s (UVM) Spatial Analysis Laboratory, and serves in a joint capacity with the USDA Forest Service Research & Development. Over the years his research has focused on the application of geospatial technology to a broad range of natural resource related issues such as environmental justice, wildlife habitat mapping, high-elevation forest decline, land cover change detection, community health, and water quality modeling. Most recently his work has centered on urban ecosystems. The results of his urban tree canopy assessments have been used by dozens of communities to establish tree canopy goals. Jarlath is well known for his expertise in object-based image analysis (OBIA) and speaks regularly on a wide range of geospatial related topics at local, regional, and national conferences. In addition to his research duties Jarlath teaches introductory and advanced courses in geospatial technology. He also oversees the university Trimble Innovation Program. Jarlath earned a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from the University of New Hampshire, a Masters of Science in Water Resources from the University of Vermont, and certificates in hyperspectral image exploitation and joint GIS operations from the National Geospatial Intelligence College. For over a decade he served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps (active & reserve) with tours in East Africa, the Middle East, and East Asia. During the early stages of Operation Iraqi Freedom he co-directed the Marine Corps’ imagery intelligence assets. At UVM he is the faculty/staff advisor for the Veterans Collaborative Organization Jarlath is the recipient of the Vermont Spatial Data Partnership's 2008 Outstanding Achievement Award, a member of the team recognized with the New York State GIS Partnership Award in 2008, and the US Forest Service Northern Research Station's 2010 award for Excellence in Science and Technology. He is currently serving on the AmericaView Board of Directors For more information on Jarlath's research and teaching please following the links on the left, or visit his blog, Letters from the SAL. You can also follow him on Twitter.

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Professor, UVM

My research focuses on the development of new computational tools to improve the understanding of human-induced changes on natural systems and the way we make decisions about natural resources. In 1995, I co-founded a small Vermont business to help speed the diffusion of research and new technologies into environmental practice. Since joining UVM in fall 2002, I have worked on a number of computational approaches to multi-scale environmental problems, including using artificial neural networks to 1) develop maps of discrete spatially-distributed fields (e.g., log-hydraulic conductivity and soil lithology), 2) predict local disease risk indicators from multi-scale weather, land and crop data, 3) image and analyze the parameter structure of subcutaneous connective tissue in humans, 4) predict the shrink/swell of soils and 4) develop a watershed classification system using hierarchical artificial neural networks for diagnosing watershed impairment at multiple scales.

MITRE Corporation, Chief Engineer
Tivnan, a UVM Complex Systems Center affiliate, is the Burlington site leader and chief engineer in the Modeling & Simulation Department for the MITRE Corporation, a not-for-profit organization that manages federally funded research and development centers, partnering with government sponsors to support their crucial operational missions. His current research interests include the study of conflict and quantitative finance.

Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Assistant Professor, UVM

Rombach's research bridges gaps between the pure and applied sides of graph/network theory. Sample areas of interest for Rombach include graph coloring, random graphs, algorithms and complexity, graph representations of matroids, crime network modeling, and core-periphery/centrality detection in networks. Prior to UVM, Rombach was an assistant adjunct professor at UCLA, working with Andrea Bertozzi. Rombach earned her PhD at the University of Oxford in 2013, under the supervision of Mason Porter and Alex Scott.

Research Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, UVM

I focus on statistical inference for complex systems and complex networks. I obtained my PhD in Physics from Université Laval, where I was advised by Prof. Louis J. Dubé and Prof. Patrick Desrosiers.

Department of Computer Science, Assistant Professor, UVM

Dr. Safwan Wshah is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Vermont. His research interests lie at the intersection of machine learning theory and its applications to healthcare and transportation. He also has broader interests in deep learning, computer vision, data analytics and image processing. Dr. Wshah received his Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University at Buffalo in 2012. Prior to joining University of Vermont, Dr. Wshah worked for Xerox and PARC (Palo Alto Research Center)- Xerox company, where he was involved in several projects creating machine learning algorithms for different applications in healthcare, transportation and education fields.