For Everyone
The leaders of ABM 17 contacted Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation for a special issue entitled “Meeting Grand Challenges in Agent-based Complex Systems”. Recently, the Editor-in-Chief Dr. Flaminio Squazzoni and the editorial board approved the request. See this site for more information.
ABM 17 Note takers:
Yingyue (Juno) Liu (liuyin22@msu.edu), Abie Sullivan (sullivan.abiev@gmail.com), Dan Brown (danbrown@umich.edu), Tom Evans (evans@indiana.edu), Andrew Bell (ab6176@nyu.edu), Shang Wu (swu@udel.edu), Casey Day (day29@purdue.edu), Bryan Runck (runck014@umn.edu), Pavan Katkar (p.katkar@gmail.com), Steve Manson (manson@umn.edu), Steve Railsback (Steve@LangRailsback.com), Jeon-Young Kang (jykang22@gmail.com or jeonyoun@buffalo.edu), Grace Smarsh (graciec.smarsh@gmail.com), Yue Dou (yuedou.whu@gmail.com).
Travel tips and friendly reminders (Posted on April 14 & updated April 18):
Weather: According to weather forecast, it will be all sunny with temperature from around 56 degrees (night) to about 80 degrees (day) Fahrenheit–see the picture attached; remember San Diego is the “City with the finest weather in USA”. So no need to bring umbrella, but sunglasses would be recommended if you have one. We will provide a bottle of sunscreen to each of you.
Meeting place: Our meeting will be in the SAME hotel, i.e., San Diego Marriott Mission Valley, which is approximately 8 miles from the San Diego Airport. The hotel’s address is 8757 Rio San Diego Drive, San Diego, California 92108 USA. If you take a Uber, you need to cross the street outside the airport building and go to the place with a sign “shared ride” (or something like that)—better ask an airport staff member. Uber’s cost will be in the $12-$20 range.
Ride sharing: If you wish to share a taxi or Uber ride, you can email your arrival date, time, and phone number to abm17@complexities.org (no later than by noon PST on April 17). We will identify participants who match your arrival time and are interested in sharing a Taxi or Uber ride, and then email you back. You can also post your flight (both arrival and departure) information onto this Google file so that other people can view and contact you.
Emergent contact: Call Ira Zukanović at 619-594-2465; Patti O’Leary at 619-594-4861; Jie Dai at 734-604-9576, Li An at 619-206-3038, or Piotr Jankowski at 619-565-7604 (in this order).
Social hours: Our Wed (April 19) social hours (5:30 PM to 8:00 PM) will be at ChuckAlek Biergarten, and its address is 3139 University Avenue San Diego, CA 92104. It is about 2 miles from your hotel San Diego Marriott Mission Valley, and you may spend $5 for a Uber (we will NOT provide a bus given that people may go and come at different times). Bring your ID such as passport or driver’s license (with your age/birthday available) if you want to drink any alcohol.
Symposium readings: All position papers, poster abstracts, and survey summaries are posted here. Our session/paper topics and related key readings are posted here, which is still tentative and subject to minor changes and committee approval, but good for you to preview and get prepared.
Tentative program: http://complexities.org/ABM17/program/. We are still accepting changes and suggestions about our program.
Science Committee: For poster evaluation assignment, please visit this form. We are still accepting changes and suggestions about this assignment.
Poster presenters: Please print and bring your posters to the symposium.
Travel Tips (Posted on April 11):
The conference hotel San Diego Marriott Mission Valley is approximately 8 miles from the San Diego Airport. The hotel’s address is 8757 Rio San Diego Drive, San Diego, California 92108 USA. Taxi, will cost you around $20-$30; and Uber’s cost will be in the $12-$20 range (depending on demand).
If you wish to share a taxi or Uber ride, you can email your arrival date, time, and phone number to abm17@complexities.org (no later than by noon PST on April 17). We will identify participants who match your arrival time and are interested in sharing a Taxi or Uber ride, and then email you back.
In case of any emergent need, please contact Patti O’Leary at 619-594-4861; Ira Zukanović at 619-594-2465, Jie Dai at 734-604-9576, Li An at 619-206-3038, or Piotr Jankowski at 619-565-7604 (in this order).
Our event manager Ira sent you an invitation via eVite several days ago. This is for social hours on Wednesday, April 19 from 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM. This is an informal get-together for everyone who can make it—you chat, drink beer/wine, and make friends—we will pay the room rental and appetizer for everyone, and you pay your own beverage and food. The location is ChuckAlek Biergarten 3139 University Avenue San Diego, CA 92104. Please respond ASAP by click this link http://evite.me/NwT8AKvQbm, and make a comment on the eVite page telling us whether you would go there yourself (e.g., by Taxi or Uber) or need a ride from us.
For Science Committee
Norway, Sweden, Germany, UK, and Netherlands are all part of Open Skies agreement, and participants from these countries can choose carriers of their own countries as long as the airline they choose originates in the European Union. Canada is not part of the agreement. So, Canadian travelers should use a US airline.
We will reimburse all science committee members’ travel costs. There are differences in the forms and information we need between domestic and international travelers. For both domestic and international travelers we will also need each participant to present the following documents to us:
– Travel form
– Vendor information form
For international travelers (foreign nationals) we will also need the following additional forms and information from you:
– Foreign National Travel Reimbursement Supplement
– W-8BEN
– Visa
– Copy of Passport
International travelers may need an invitation letter for visa application and/or entry into USA. Please download and print the letter.
Our symposium will be held at San Diego Marriott Mission Valley. We have already paid your hotel, but please still call 1-877-622-3056 (or 619-692-3800) or visit this website for room reservation of three nights (April 19, 20, and 21) as soon as possible but no later than March 14, and mention “ABM 17“. If asked for hotel name or address, here is the information: San Diego Marriott Mission Valley at 8757 Rio San Diego Drive, San Diego, California 92108 USA. You will be asked to leave your credit card information, but will not be charged. Upon arrival, we recommend Super Shuttle for you to get to the hotel at a charge of $14, and this is their reservation website. The charges for Uber and taxi are about $10 (varying over time) and $30, respectively.
For ABM17 Participants
Sponsored by National Science Foundation (see this site), we are organizing a symposium entitled “ABM 2017: Agent-Based Models in the Social, Human-Environment, and Life Sciences” (see our project website) at San Diego, California between April 20-22, 2017. The goal of this symposium is to transform the science, technology, and application of agent-based models in the context of social, human-environment, and life sciences. We have assembled a science committee of exceptional ABM developers, modelers, and users.
You are encouraged to participate in this great event. You will be able to interact with many internationally renowned ABM scholars (e.g., get their comments or instructions on your project or presentation), participate in discussions, initiate or join grant proposals, and have the opportunity to author or coauthor papers or book chapters (about essential ABM issues) that will be shaping the future of the ABM science. We are calling for 1) abstracts (for poster presentations) OR 2) position papers (no need for poster presentation). A position paper is a 0.5 – 2 page outline of your perception and thoughts about ABM, in which you may address theoretical, technological, and application issues related to agent-based modeling. Potential topics include (but are not limited to): ABM verification and validation, modeling of human decisions, model transparency and reusability, uncertainty and sensitivity analysis for ABM, integrated human-environment ABMs, methodological issues of spatially explicit ABMs, and developing big data friendly ABM. You do not need to submit a full paper after your submission of paper position.
Please send your abstract (for poster presentation) or position paper (for participation in the symposium without poster presentation) to abm17@complexities.org by February 15 (extended from January 31), 2017 for poster presentation. Your abstract or position paper should include the title, author(s), author affiliation(s), five key words, and a text body up to 250 words. Once you get the approval from us (we will reply within 1-2 business days), please go to this site for registration and pay $250 fee that covers your food, beverage, meeting brochure, name tag, etc.
Compete for the ABM17 Star Award:
We provide an opportunity for junior ABM-related researchers, including students, postdocs, assistant professors, and other early-career scholars, to compete for a very prestigious NSF-sponsored award named “ABM17 Star”. If you opt to compete for the “ABM17 Star” award, please also prepare PowerPoint slides for a potential oral presentation before you go to the symposium in April. The Science Committee will evaluate all posters and select six people for oral presentation. Out these six people, we will select three people for the “ABM17 Star” Award (with signed certificates).
Apply for Professional Enhancement Awards:
Several ABM Professional Enhancement Awards (ABM-PEA; up to $800 each) will be given to junior researchers, including students, postdocs, and assistant professors, to cover expenses associated with attending the symposium. Note that this is very competitive, so most participants will have to pay the related costs by themselves. To apply, download the application form from http://complexities.org/ABM17/resources/, fill in the form, and email it to abm17@complexities.org by February 15, 2017. The Symposium Organizing Committee will evaluate all the applications and notify the applicants by February 22, 2017.
When booking your air tickets, please choose San Diego International Airport–e.g., Type SAN in Expedia, and you will get “San Diego, CA (SAN-San Diego Intl.”. Some airlines, such as SouthWest, may not work with travel agencies like Expedia.
Our recommended times and dates of your travel: arrive after 2 pm on April 19 and depart after 3 pm on April 22. This recommendation is for ticket-booking in consideration of the symposium only; please make adjustments if you have other prior- or post-symposium plans.
Our symposium will be held at San Diego Marriott Mission Valley. We recommend that you choose to stay at this hotel. We have negotiated with the hotel and have a discounted rate of $99/night (reservation made before February 20) or $120/night (reservation made after February 20) plus tax and tourism assessment fee. Call all 1-877-622-3056 (or 619-692-3800) or visit this website for room reservation as soon as possible (the discounted rate is available by March 14 or when the reserved block is sold out – whichever comes out first) and mention “ABM 17“. If you plan to stay more than three nights, the hotel may charge your extra nights at their regular rate. If asked for hotel name or address, here is the information: San Diego Marriott Mission Valley at 8757 Rio San Diego Drive, San Diego, California 92108 USA.
Upon arrival, we recommend Super Shuttle for you to get to the hotel at a charge of $14, and this is their reservation website. The charges for Uber and taxi are about $10 (varying over time) and $30, respectively.
Participants from countries other than USA may contact us at abm17@complexities.org requesting a letter of invitation for your visa application or/and entry into the USA.
Poster evaluation assignments can be found here.
The size of poster boards prepared by San Diego Marriott Mission Valley is 48” (height) x 70” (width), and the boards are plastic. So our recommendation is that as long as your poster fits into the board (less than 48″ in height and less than 70″ in width), it is fine. Here is a picture of the poster board. All poster presenters may use Masking tape or Binding Clips. The symposium organizers will provide tapes.
