University of Pittsburgh
1-3 April 2011
Hosted by the Center for Philosophy of Science and the University of Pittsburgh MIDAS National Center for Excellence in the Graduate School for Public Health
The conference will focus on philosophical issues that arise within the practice and application of contemporary research using modeling and simulation The goal is to bring together sophisticated work in philosophy of science and on-going efforts in modeling in order to build more effective collaboration between philosophers of science and those who build and employ models in a range of disciplines and applications.
Topics will include:
The scientific status of computational techniques
Does simulation require a new epistemology?
The role of theory, experiment, model and simulation
Varieties and purposes of scientific simulation
Analytic modeling versus computer simulation
Problems in juggling multiple and competing models
How do models fail?
Validation and verification of models and simulations
Promises and pitfalls of large, detailed, and realistic models
Modeling, science, and policy
Call for Presentations
Co-Directors: Patrick Grim and Nicholas Rescher
Program Committee: Mark Bedau, Joshua Epstein, John Grefenstete, Ross Hammond, Paul Humphreys, James G. Lennox, Marc Lipsitch, Sandra Mitchell, Ryan Muldoon, John D. Norton, Scott Page, Susan Sterrett, Bas van Fraassen, Michael Weisberg, and Kevin Zollman
For additional information on MIDAS, go to: www.midas.pitt.edu
Contacts:
Patrick Grim, Philosophy, Stony Brook. Email: pgrim@notes.cc.sunysb.edu
Dr. Phillip Palmer, MIDAS Education Outreach Coordinator, Email: php9@pitt.edu