The complex human-environment systems (CHES) laboratory, which was the CHES Center at San Diego State University (SDSU), is now housed at College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment (CFWE), 602 Duncan Drive, Auburn, AL 36849. As an academic unit at Auburn University, the CHES lab aims to achieve better CHES understanding, envisioning, planning, and sustainability via a hybrid of artificial intelligence, data science, and spatial/applied statistics approach. We view human-environment systems as complex systems, which are often characterized by a variety of complexity features such as high dimensionality, hierarchical structure, heterogeneity, nonlinearity, feedback, path dependence, emergence, and multi-finality. Complexity theory, landscape ecology, geographic information science, machine learning, and other relevant disciplinary knowledge leverage theoretical and methodological support toward our CHES research. Relevant information can be found at the website of International Center for Climate and Global Change Research (ICCGCR). Our CHES research is currently applied to the following exemplar areas:

  • Developing artificial intelligence tools and methods for natural resource management and environmental conservation
  • Developing geospatial and statistical analytics, especially space-time analysis methods and techniques
  • Revealing space-time dynamics & mechanisms of complex human-environment systems, including applications in wildlife habitat, biodiversity, ecosystem services, human health, hazard-disaster analysis, climate change, and urban development
  • Modeling human and/or animal decisions, behaviors, and their consequences on CHES with a focus on integration of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and agent-based modeling
  • Establishing and maintaining various CHES research, education, and outreach networks that seek to achieve CHES sustainability

To handle CHES with such complexity features, we are developing a data science informed and disciplinary theory-driven methodology for system representation, interdisciplinary and inter-scale integration, and systems modeling. Our CHES methodology focuses on digital representation, geovisualization and animation, space-time analysis, micro-level modeling, and 4-dimensional (x, y, z, time) simulation of various environmental and human processes. Here are a few exemplar models, demos, or movies (note: for test purpose only; the final versions will come up soon): Web-Based Model and Street Pedestrian Demo.



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