STEP - Science and Technology in the European Periphery

EPISTEMOLOGY OF MODELING AND SIMULATION

University of Pittsburgh, April 1-3 2011
www.modelingepistemology.pitt.edu

Call for Abstracts:Submission of extended abstracts (approximately 1,000) words is invited for presentations of approximately 30 minutes. Modeling work in any discipline or application is welcomed that includes philosophical reflection on epistemological issues raised. Philosophical work in any relevant area is welcomed, with preference given for work that includes a focus on specific examples of contemporary modeling. Projects that involve both philosophers and those active in modeling research, outcomes, or policy impact are particularly encouraged. Limited graduate student and postdoctoral fellow travel support is available.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: JANUARY 7, 2011

Building Bridges Between the Philosophical and Modeling Communities
Hosted by the University of Pittsburgh's Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study (MIDAS) National Center for Excellence in the graduate School of Public Health, and the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh.
The three-day conference will focus on philosophical issues that arise within the practice and application of contemporary research using modeling and simulation. The goal is to bring together sophisticated work in philosophy of science and ongoing efforts in modeling in order to build more effective collaboration between philosophers of science and those who build and employ models in a range of disciplines and applications. There is NO REGISTRATION FEE for this event but pre-registration isi requested at the following link:
www.modelingepistemology.pitt.edu/registration.

Topics will include:
Theory, experiment, modeling, and simulationValidation and verification of models and simulationsDoes simulation require a new epistemology?Analytic models versus simulationsHow do models succeed? When do models fail?Modeling in different domains: infectious disease, behavior, economics, and moreModeling, science, and policy

CONFIRMED INVITED SPEAKERS:
Mark Bedau
Editor-in-Chief, Artificial Life, co-editor of Emergence: Contemporary Readings in Philosophy and Science and Protocells: Bridging Nonliving and Living Matter
John H. MillerSanta Fe Institute and Carnegie Mellon University Social and Decision Sciences, Associate Editor of the Journal of Computational Economics and co-author of Complex Adaptive Systems.

Paul Thagard
Computational Philosophy of Science; How Scientists Explain Disease; Coherence in Thought and Action; Hot Thought; Induction: Processes of Inference, Learning, and Discovery.

Marc Lipsitch
Bacterial and human population genetics, mathematical modeling of infectious disease. Director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Havard School of Public Health and author of over 100 papers on topics including population genetics and mathematical modeling of infectious disease dynamics.

Ian Lustick
Agent-based modeling of political dynamics and violence. Trapped in the War on Terror; Unsettled States, Disputed Lands: Britain and Ireland, France and Algeria, Israel and the West-Bank Gaza.

Nicholas Rescher
Epistemology: On the Scope and Limits of Knowledge; Epistemetrics; The Limits of Science; Epistemic Logic; Scientific Explanation; Scientific Progress; Risk: An Introduction to the Theory of Risk Evaluation and Management; Error; and Predicting the Future.

Patrick Grim
Meeting Co-Chair
Group for Logic & Formal Semantics
Department of PhilosophySUNY at Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY 11794-3750
Phone: 631-790-2356
Email: pgrim@notes.cc.sunysb.edu

Philip D. Palmer, Ph.D.
MIDAS Education & Outreach Coordinator
Office of the Associate Vice Chancellor for Science Education Outreach, Health Services
University of Pittsburgh
Suite M-252A, Scaife Hall
3550 Terrace Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
Phone: 412-624-6957
Email: php9@pitt.edu