Joshua Epstein
Joshua Epstein
Professor of Epidemiology
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Professional overview
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Joshua Epstein is Professor of Epidemiology in the NYU School of Global Public Health, and founding Director of the NYU Agent-Based Modeling Laboratory, with affiliated appointments at The Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, and the College of Arts & Sciences. Prior to joining NYU, he was Professor of Emergency Medicine at Johns Hopkins, and Director of the Center for Advanced Modeling in the Social, Behavior, and Health Sciences, with Joint appointments in Economics, Applied Mathematics, International Health, and Biostatistics. Before that, he was Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution and Director of the Center on Social and Economic Dynamics. His research interest has been modeling complex social dynamics using mathematical and computational methods, notably the method of Agent-Based Modeling in which he is a recognized pioneer. For this transformative innovation, he was awarded the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award in 2008, an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Amherst College in 2010, and was elected to the Society of Sigma XI in 2018. He has applied this method to the study of infectious diseases (e.g., Ebola, pandemic influenza, and smallpox), vector-borne diseases (e.g., zika), urban disaster preparedness, contagious violence, the evolution of norms, economic dynamics, computational archaeology, and the emergence of social classes, among many other topics. His books include Nonlinear Dynamics, Mathematical Biology, and Social Science (Wiley 1997), Generative Social Science: Studies in Agent-Based Computational Modeling (Princeton, 2006), Agent_Zero: Toward Neurocognitive Foundations for Generative Social Science (Princeton, 2013), and with Robert Axtell, Growing Artificial Societies: Social Science from the Bottom Up (MIT, 1996). Dr. Epstein earned his BA from Amherst College and his Ph.D. from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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Education
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BA, Independent Scholar with Thesis in Political Economy, Amherst College, Amherst, MAPhD, Political Science (Specialization: Security Studies, Communist Studies, and Economics), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
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Honors and awards
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Honorary Doctorate of Science, Amherst College (2010)Director’s Pioneer Award, National Institutes of Health (2008)Rockefeller Foundation International Relations Fellowship (1984)Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship (1983)Ford Foundation Dual Expertise Fellowship in Soviet/East European Area Studies and International Security/Arms Control (1981)Institute for the Study of World Politics Fellowship (1981)
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Areas of research and study
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Agent-Based ModelingApplied EconomicsCost AnalysisDisaster HealthEpidemiologyHealth EconomicsInfectious DiseasesMathematical and Computational ModelingModeling Social and Behavioral DynamicsNew York Department of Health and Mental HygienePublic Health SystemsUrban HealthUrban InformaticsUrban Science
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Presentations
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Publications
Publications
Modelling to contain pandemics
Failed retrieving data.Coupled contagion dynamics of fear and disease : Mathematical and computational explorations
Failed retrieving data.Why model?
Failed retrieving data.A hybrid epidemic model : Combining the advantages of agent-based and equation-based approaches
Failed retrieving data.Containing a large bioterrorist smallpox attack : a computer simulation approach
Failed retrieving data.Controlling pandemic flu : The value of international air travel restrictions
Failed retrieving data.Exploring price-independent mechanisms in the obesity epidemic
Failed retrieving data.Chapter 34 Remarks on the Foundations of Agent-Based Generative Social Science
Failed retrieving data.Generative Social Science: Studies in Agent-Based Computational Modeling
Failed retrieving data.Individual-based Computational Modeling of Smallpox Epidemic Control Strategies
Failed retrieving data.Toward a Containment Strategy for Smallpox Bioterror: An Individual-Based Computational Approach
Failed retrieving data.The Evolution of Social Behavior in the Prehistoric American Southwest
Failed retrieving data.Modeling civil violence : An agent-based computational approach
Failed retrieving data.Non-explanatory equilibria : An extremely simple game with (mostly) unattainable fixed points
Failed retrieving data.Population growth and collapse in a multiagent model of the Kayenta Anasazi in Long House Valley
Failed retrieving data.Learning to be thoughtless : Social norms and individual computation
Failed retrieving data.The Emergence of Economic Classes in an Agent-Based Bargaining Model
Failed retrieving data.Modelli computazionali fondati su agenti e scienza sociale generativa
Failed retrieving data.Understanding Anasazi Culture Change Through Agent-Based Modeling
Failed retrieving data.Agent-based computational models and generative social science
Failed retrieving data.Agent-Based Computational Models and Generative Social Science
Failed retrieving data.Coordination in Transient Social Networks: An Agent-Based Computational Model of the Timing of Retirement
Failed retrieving data.Zones of cooperation in demographic prisoner’s dilemma
Failed retrieving data.Aligning Simulation Models: A Case Study and Results
Failed retrieving data.Artificial Societies and Generative Social Science
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