MEDIA CONTACT: Patsy Jones
561-297-1307, patsyj@fau.edu
BOCA RATON, FL (October 12, 2006) -- Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science has announced that three of its scientists will be part of an international team that will apply the principles and methods of dynamical complex systems to understanding the causes of protracted social conflicts that continue to undermine the safety and security of societies worldwide. In 2005, 20 major armed conflicts were waged around the globe, with 40 percent having lasted for 10 years or more and 25 percent having lasted 25 years or more.
The James S. McDonnell Foundation has awarded $443,500 to this international team for a three-year period supporting the study, development of methods and transformation of these conflicts and developing methods of transforming them, with $173,500 going to FAU. This highly interdisciplinary team will apply dynamical systems using mathematical ideas to describe how complex systems of many strongly interacting pieces change in time. This approach has provided new insights into understanding physical, chemical and biological systems and the nature of intractable conflicts and how to deal with them.
Dr. Larry Liebovitch, professor of psychology and director of the FAU Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences; Dr. Robin Vallacher, professor of psychology; and Dr. Andrzej Nowak, associate professor of psychology are participating members of this international team. Vallacher and Nowak are widely recognized for their leading role in applying complexity and dynamical systems to social psychology. Liebovitch is a leading expert in developing mathematical models of molecular, cellular and physiological systems and in teaching about complexity research. Dr. Peter Coleman, associate professor of psychology and education at Teachers College of Columbia University in New York and director of the College’s International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution, also is part of the team.
The project is unique in that it will link together three different levels of study.
There will be interviews and questionnaires collected in Mozambique and the Middle East. Experimental studies that will correlate types of behavior that escalate and de-escalate conflicts will be performed in New York and Boca Raton. Dynamical models will be developed that use mathematical equations and computer simulations to describe and possibly predict the behavior of conflicts.
Ultimately, this team hopes to create new ways to teach people on a broad scale about conflict. What they find may have policy implications for how leaders think about conflict and peace and how people involved in conflict are trained.
For more information, call Patsy Jones at 561-297-1307 or e-mail patsyj@fau.edu.
-FAU-
Florida Atlantic University opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University serves more than 26,000 undergraduate and graduate students on seven campuses strategically located along 150 miles of Florida's southeastern coastline. Building on its rich tradition as a teaching university, with a world-class faculty, FAU hosts nine colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Biomedical Science, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, and the Colleges of Business, Education, Engineering & Computer Science, and Architecture, Urban & Public Affairs.
