An Introductory Course in Modeling Dynamic Chemical and Ecological Systems

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An introductory course in modeling of dynamic systems, with special emphasis on chemical and ecological problems, will be developed. The target student population will be first- and second-year social-science and humanities students, but upper-division students and interested science majors will not be excluded. Rather than placing emphasis on mathematical methods and techniques used in modeling, attention will be centered on salient aspects of complex-system behavior as illustrated by models constructed using the commercially-available software-package STELLA II. Relatively straight-forward models dealing with chemical reactions will be used to introduce fundamental features of complex-system dynamics. Problems of ecological and demographic interest, at moderate level of difficulty, will then be covered. The origin and behavior of "deterministic chaos" will be treated using examples from both chemistry and ecology. In the last third of the course, students will work in small groups (or individually) developing their own models, each related to a specific problem of current interest, preferably in fields of the students' major academic interest. Opportunity will be provided for some outstanding students to use less "user-friendly" software such as ODEPACK to deal with models involving "stiff" differential equations. The last exercise of the course will be a poster-session, at which individuals and groups will present their project-models to other members of the class, and to guests. The main aims of the course will be to facilitate development of the students' insight with respect to types of functioning to be expected of complex networks of relationships, and therefore in important natural systems, and also to engender an appreciation of the power and limitations of modeling techniques.