Abstract for: Sociocultural/Geopolitical Modeling & Assessment: Current Work and Research Frontiers

A common problem associated with the effort to better anticipate potential behaviors of various populations within different countries is the shear difficulty in comprehending the dynamic nature of populations, particularly over time and considering feedback effects. This talk discusses a theory-based analytical capability, called DYMATICA, that is designed to enable analysts to better assess the influence of events on individuals interacting within a country or region. These events can include changes in policy, man-made or natural disasters, migration, war, or other changes in environmental/economic conditions. DYMATICA (DYnamic Multi-scale Assessment Tool for Integrated Cognitive-behavioral Actions) is a computational approach to help decision makers better understand and anticipate likely responses and decision calculus of governmental institutions, groups, and populations to different conditions and events. DYMATICA assessments are designed to examine geopolitical, psychosocial, economic, and military phenomenon subject to key physical constrains and conditions.