Vancouver Hosts NSF-Sponsored Conference for Organizational Researchers

Dr. Coen (on right, second from the left) works with students on computer coding for agent-based model.

Experienced and novice computational modelers converged in Athens on Oct. 23-25 for a conference and workshop focused on computational modeling strategies for organizational science.

Dr. Jeffrey Vancouver lectures to workshop participants on system dynamics.

Hosted by Dr. Jeffrey B. Vancouver, Professor of Industrial/Organizational Psychology at Ohio University, this three-day conference was supported by a National Science Foundation grant from the Division of Social and Economic Sciences, Science of Organizations.

Distinguished computational modelers from the fields of psychology, management, and organizational science  presented on the benefits of computational modeling in organizational research, outlined best-practices for modeling techniques, and discussed the complexity of computational model fit.

Participating speakers included:

• Dr. James Grand from the Social, Decision, and Organizational Sciences program at University of Maryland
• Dr. Corinne Coen, Asssociated Professor at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve
• Dr. Deanna Kennedy from the University of Washington School Of Business
• Dr. Sara McComb from Purdue University’s School of Industrial Engineering
• Dr. Ron Sun from the Rensselear Polytechnic Institute and editor of the Oxford Handbook of Computational Psychology
• Dr. Ronaldo Vigo, Associate Professor of Mathematical and Computational Cognitive Sciences at Ohio
• Ohio University Alum Dr. Justin Weinhardt ’13 Ph.D., Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne Business School

During the weekend, attendees participated in training workshops hosted by Coen and Vancouver. The weekend training focused on promoting mastery of system dynamics and agent-based modeling software (e.g., Vensim and NetLogo) for novice modelers. On Sunday,  instructors provided individualized help and feedback to each student modeler as they worked to develop a computational model from their research focus. During the coming weeks, workshop participants will continue to perfect their models, working closely with Drs. Vancouver and Coen, remotely. Modelers will be provided with the opportunity to present their work during an online webinar to fellow conference participants in mid-December.