System Dynamics
NEWSLETTER

Volume 24 – Number 3        October 2011

Washington DC Conference Report

Links to many photos from the Washington DC Conference are posted on the Society’s conference webpage; please take a look. Each year we have volunteer photographers wandering around the conference taking photos. If you have any photos you would like to share, please send them and we will add them to the website collection. (If there is a photograph of you on the web that you prefer that we remove, please let us know at office@systemdynamics.org.)

Links to many full papers, including abstracts and supporting materials can also be accessed through the Society website. If you would like a copy of the printed abstract proceedings, extra copies are for sale.

From the 2011 Conference Organizing Team, thanks!

Policy Council Meeting

Minutes of the Meeting of the Policy Council and the General Business Meeting can be found in their entirety by clicking on the “Governance” button on the System Dynamics Society website. Please visit the website to learn about the business discussed and to view the complete reports and information presented for the 2011 Summer Policy Council Meeting.

At its 2011 summer meeting, the Policy Council passed the following motions:

• Approve the minutes of Winter 2011 Policy Council Meeting
• Accept the proposed Society budget for 2012
• Approve Standing Committee Members appointed by the President
• Administrative Committee: Jim Thompson (2012-14)
• Awards Committee: Krys Stave, Mark Paich (2012-14)

The Policy Council also holds electronic votes from time to time during the periods between face-to-face meetings. Please find a brief summary of recent electronic voting below.

E-votes approved pre-Summer 2011 PC Meeting:

• Appoint Jürgen Strohhecker as member of the Nominating Committee (August 1, 2011 - July, 31, 2014)
• Approve the merger of the Security SIG with the Inter- and Intranational Conflict SIG to form a new SIG named Conflict, Defense and Security

E-votes approved post-Summer 2011 PC Meeting:

• Approve the appointment of Bob Eberlein and Ignacio Martínez-Moyano as program chairs for the 2013 International Conference
• Appoint Rogelio Oliva as Executive Editor of the System Dynamics Review (term starts January 1, 2012)

Session Reports

This year we initiated a new way of session reporting at the conference. Reporters were asked to post their reports on the System Dynamics Discussion Forum. Thank you to our session reporters: Martijn Eskinasi, Michael Deaton, and Stefan Groesser. Below please find links to each report.

MON 11:30 AM Parallel, Conflict, Defense and Security   
TUE 11:30 AM Parallel, Regional Development and Urban Dynamics 
TUE 11:30 AM Parallel, Panel Discussion: System Dynamics Research in Conflict, Defense, and Security
TUE 2:30 PM Parallel, Advances in Knowledge Elicitation
THU 1:00 PM Workshop, Reviewing for Conferences and Journals

Notes and Comments from Conference Participants

Thanks for a great conference - I’m looking forward to many more. Casey Church, Analytic Services Inc.

I truly enjoyed myself as well as furthered my learning of systems thinking and system dynamics from the great sessions and plenary speakers. Yannick Ngana

I just wanted to send you a note to thank you for all you did to make the conference a wonderful experience for so many people. I was a first time system dynamics conference attendee, and I so very much enjoyed all the ways to be actively engaged in the experience. I really liked having a blue ribbon so that I could automatically connect with other people who were also first-time attendees. And I really enjoyed the trivia idea, the opportunity to vote on posters, and so many carefully scheduled times when people were able to hang out and spend time together. I made so many friends, and the whole group just seemed like such a big, warm, and open family. I hope very much to attend future conferences after this wonderful experience. It really invigorated my passion for system dynamics. Seeing all of these fabulous talks and spending time with so many amazing people has been such an inspiring opportunity. 

One more thought I keep having is that I was surprised by how accessible many of the leaders in system dynamics were at this conference. Even as a first-time attendee I met many individuals who are famous in the field and I felt very comfortable conversing with them. I found so many leaders in system dynamics research to be exceptionally warm and approachable. By and large the attendees struck me as being genuinely interested in using system dynamics to advance knowledge and ameliorate social problems, with little regard for advancing their own prestige. This seemed to foster a very warm and inclusive atmosphere. Teresa Schmidt

Thank you for yet another great conference! I very much enjoyed attending and as usual the home office, local organisers, volunteers  and everyone else who helped made for a smooth organization. Etiënne Rouwette

Thank You!

Many thanks to all who contributed their writing, photographs, and information to this issue of the newsletter. Thanks to all conference volunteers: Allyson Beall, Abby Beck, Roma Bhatkoti-Barthwal, Robert L. Eberlein, Magda Gajdosz, Navid Ghaffarzadegan, John Huertas Quiroga, Katrina Hull, Dennis Jacobs, Jaehee Jong, Colleen Kinneen, Junesoo Lee, Milana Levit, Leonard A. Malczynski, James Melhuish, Mahri Monson, Su-Bin Park, Hazhir Rahmandad, Nasim Sabounchi, Lili Shi, Heather Skaza, Togay Tanyolac, Mauricio Uriona Maldonado, Beril Uzmez, Goran Vojvodic, and Nicole Zimmermann. Photos are provided by: Dean L. Christensen, Martin Schaffernicht, Onur Özgün, and many others.

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