Joshua Epstein

Professor of Epidemiology

Professional overview

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.

Education

BA, Independent Scholar with Thesis in Political Economy, Amherst College, Amherst, MA

PhD, Political Science (Specialization: Security Studies, Communist Studies, and Economics), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Honors and awards

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)

Areas of research and study

Agent-Based Modeling

Applied Economics

Cost Analysis

Disaster Health

Epidemiology

Health Economics

Infectious Diseases

Mathematical and Computational Modeling

Modeling Social and Behavioral Dynamics

New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

Public Health Systems

Urban Health

Urban Informatics

Urban Science

Presentations

Agent Zero and Generative Social Science

Agent Zero and Integrative Economics

Publications

Publications

Coupled contagion dynamics of fear and disease : Mathematical and computational explorations

Why model?

A hybrid epidemic model : Combining the advantages of agent-based and equation-based approaches

Containing a large bioterrorist smallpox attack : a computer simulation approach

Controlling pandemic flu : The value of international air travel restrictions

Exploring price-independent mechanisms in the obesity epidemic

Chapter 34 Remarks on the Foundations of Agent-Based Generative Social Science

Generative Social Science: Studies in Agent-Based Computational Modeling

Individual-based Computational Modeling of Smallpox Epidemic Control Strategies

Toward a Containment Strategy for Smallpox Bioterror: An Individual-Based Computational Approach

The Evolution of Social Behavior in the Prehistoric American Southwest

Modeling civil violence : An agent-based computational approach

Non-explanatory equilibria : An extremely simple game with (mostly) unattainable fixed points

Population growth and collapse in a multiagent model of the Kayenta Anasazi in Long House Valley

Learning to be thoughtless : Social norms and individual computation

The Emergence of Economic Classes in an Agent-Based Bargaining Model

Modelli computazionali fondati su agenti e scienza sociale generativa

Understanding Anasazi Culture Change Through Agent-Based Modeling

Agent-based computational models and generative social science

Agent-Based Computational Models and Generative Social Science

Coordination in Transient Social Networks: An Agent-Based Computational Model of the Timing of Retirement

Zones of cooperation in demographic prisoner’s dilemma

Aligning Simulation Models: A Case Study and Results

Artificial Societies and Generative Social Science

Growing Artificial Societies: Social Science from the Bottom Up