Modeling, Simulation, and Visualization Group

The DIS Division’s Modeling, Simulation, and Visualization Group (MSV) includes computer scientists and engineers who specialize in multiple disciplines. They collaborate to develop innovative decision-support methodologies, models, databases, and information systems; apply these tools to the analysis and resolution of problems of regional, national, and global significance; and transfer these tools to other users.

A core MSV capability is the performance of computational experiments (simulation runs over time) for both physical and social systems. The software solutions developed by MSV often include reusable components, such as agent-based modeling frameworks, sensor monitoring systems, database persistence, scientific visualization, and data mining. MSV uses an integrative modeling approach to support new research and to leverage the expertise of scientists and engineers from many disciplines in implementing usable, useful, and used solutions.

For more than 25 years, Argonne’s MSV experts have collaborated and partnered with numerous government (e.g., Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Department of Homeland Security) and private-sector (e.g., Fortune 500 consumer products, security and detection equipment) sponsors to identify and develop better ways to solve real-world problems. Modeling and simulation project domains include military logistics, utility infrastructure, chemical and biological warning systems, facility management at installations, consumer markets, social networks, emergency management, and public health. 

The skilled and experienced MSV staff, with its cross-disciplinary focus, provides a unique ability to integrate best-of-breed models with dynamic, agent-based models. The comprehensive suite of analysis tools developed by MSV allows Argonne and its sponsors to research the complex interactions and feedback mechanisms among societal and environmental processes.

Areas of Expertise

• Build logistics tools to manage and plan the movement of equipment, cargo, or personnel through a supply chain
• Design and build agent-based consumer markets and social network models to support strategic and business decision making
• Develop complex models of small- to large-scale systems
• Apply analysis tools to areas of national, regional, and local concern, such as mass prophylaxis of a large metropolitan area
• Create complex engineering models of physical structures, such as detailed bridge analysis software
• Employ data integration and fusion technology to merge, analyze, display, and alert users in real time
• Integrate multiple domains into cohesive modeling suites to understand the implications across models
• Develop models of dispersion in multiple contexts, such as open air, buildings, and subways
• Develop complex systems that integrate multiple technologies, such as discrete event simulation, agent-based modeling, system dynamics, and decision and risk analysis

For more information, contact:

James A. St. Aubin
Phone: 630-252-9237
Fax: 630-252-6073
E-mail James A. St. Aubin

Charles VanGroningen
Phone: 630-252-5308
Fax: 630-252-6073
E-mail Charles Van Groningen