An internationally recognized expert in the application of network theory to model and predict improvements to transportation and communication systems will share her expertise with West Virginia University and members of the community Thursday, April 28.
Aura Reggiani a professor of economic policy at the University of Bologna, Italy, will present “Accessibility and Resiliency in Complex Networks,” at 12:30 p.m. in room 325 Brooks Hall on the WVU campus. Her talk is free and open to the public.
Network theory, which also can be applied to power grids, community resilience, social systems and hundreds of other complexities that touch every day life, is the study of “connectedness” or how many individual pieces work together to produce a particular kind of action that could not be predicted by looking at its individual pieces.
From complex networks like power grids to the anatomy of the human brain, scientists are studying the relationships that make up these linkages. Experts like Reggiani use mathematics to represent the relationships and statistics to analyze them. Her presentation will help the audience understand how scientists are using network theory to understand and anticipate behaviors in systems from transportation, electronics and sociology to economics, social networks and political science.
Reggiani’s appearance is sponsored by the WVU Regional Research Institute.
“Advanced methods for studying networks facilitates advances in all of these areas,” said Randall Jackson, director of the RRI, “and all of these areas are related to the efficiency of economic systems. Dr. Reggiani has an impressive body of work in the field and we are extremely fortunate to have her as our guest.”
Reggiani has a Ph. D. in spatial economics from the Free University of Amsterdam.
She has led several national and international research projects in developing new network concepts and applying them to the transport and telecommunication fields. She has a long list of international publications in her field of expertise and has been a chairperson or speaker at many European and international conferences. She has been a fellow of the Netherlands Institute of Advanced Studies at the Royal Dutch Academy since 1991, working on network dynamics and evolutionary theories.
Reggiani has been member of the executive committees of various International scientific organizations including the Network for European Communications and Transport Activities Research, the International Geographical Union, and the Regional Science Association International. She is currently on the editorial boards of nine internationally recognized journals.
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CONTACT: Randall Jackson, WVU RRI
(304)-293-8734