FREE / SFI's online complex systems course has begun, but you can still join

SFI's online complex systems course has begun, but you can still join

Feb. 11, 2013 12:54 p.m.

SFI's first massive open online course (MOOCs) in complex systems science, "Introduction to Complexity," has begun, but you can still join. 

To register, visit http://complexityexplorer.org.

The course is an accessible introduction to the field, with no pre-requisites and no course fees. It is free and open to anyone.

"You don't need a science or math background to take this introductory course," says SFI External Professor Melanie Mitchell, the course's instructor. "It simply requires an interest in the field and the willingness to participate in a hands-on approach to the subject."

In this ten-week course, participants will learn about the tools used by complex systems scientists to understand, and sometimes to control, complex systems. Topics include dynamics, chaos, fractals, information theory, computation theory, evolution and adaptation, agent-based modeling, and networks.

"You'll also get a sense of how these topics fit together to help explain how complexity arises and evolves in nature, society, and technology," she says.

Mitchell is an SFI External Professor, a professor of computer science at Portland State University, and author of the award-winning book Complexity: A Guided Tour. 

The course, "Introduction to Complexity," begins February 4. (Please note: The original start date of January 28 was changed to accommodate additional online development needs.)

To register, please visit http://complexityexplorer.org.

Read about the course on Sean Carroll's blog "Preposterous Universe" (December 21, 2012)

Read an interview with Mitchell in Portland State University's Vanguard (January 23, 2013)

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