Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from UM Complex Systems, Education, 500 Church Street Suite 700, Ann Arbor, MI.
The Center for the Study of Complex Systems (CSCS) is a multi- and interdisciplinary program at the University of Michigan where students and faculty come together to study how complex systems behave, change, and interact.
05/14/2026
It's been an exciting year for us here at Complex Systems! Faculty awarded for their excelence, students exceeded expectations, growing our community in person and online and raising over $17,000 in honor of our beloved Charlie and Rick. We are so proud of our Complex Systems community and look forward to innovation and greatness in the years to come, a full year in review article is available on our website, link in bio!
The crowded central campus crosswalk at 12:50 PM is a perfect example of complex systems, where individual movement creates collective order. It's happening all around you and you are a part of it!
Visit our website or stop by our office on the 7th floor of Weiser hall to learn more.
05/01/2026
Congrats to Natalie Vogt and Samantha Mazza for taking first place in this semester’s poster competition.
Their projects, along with their classmates’, are a true testament to the breadth of complex systems and the many ways it can be applied. If you missed the competition, stop by our office anytime to take a look, and read more about their work and others at the link in bio.
A political application of complex systems with Complex Systems post-doc David Sabin-Miller.
David Sabin-Miller puts quantifiable psychological behavior at the center of a model where people update their beliefs based on what they see, then feed those updates back into the environment they’re reacting to. This creates a feedback loop where people bounce off political information, with some pushed left and others right. Even with all the noise in who sees what, these individual dynamics can scale up to reveal broader societal patterns.
Get started with complex systems by visiting our website or stopping by the 7th floor of Weiser Hall.
A different perspective to complex systems at the Z E3 lab. Luis Zaman talk about a recent paper at the ZE3 Lab, where evolution turns inward, uncovering how the process can refine itself to become better at evolving.
04/22/2026
Congratulations to Tianyong Yao and Vivaan Singhvi, recipients of the 2026 Rick Riolo Undergraduate Research Prize! Modeling dopamine cycles and sleep patterns and developing scalable algorithms for evolutionary analysis, this year’s winners highlight the breadth of complex systems research. The committee recognized both projects for their rigor, innovation, and real world impact, capturing the true spirit of Rick Riolo’s legacy of curiosity and interdisciplinary thinking. More on their projects on our website. Link in bio.
04/21/2026
Each semester we celebrate a semester of complexity with some pizza and friendly competition :) Join us next Monday @6:30 PM for the CMPLXSYS 270 Agent-Based Modeling Poster Contest!
4/27 | 6:30 PM | Weiser Hall | 7th Floor
“A lot of the problems that we face in the modern world are problems of complex systems.”
What does that actually mean? David Sabin-Miller unpacks how complexity shows up across the world around us, and why understanding it changes the way you see everything.
“If you are just introduced to the concept, you will start to see it everywhere.”
Consider enrolling in CMPLXSYS 270 to get started!
Meme, measles, and misinformation... there's a science to how they each spread. Register for CMPLXSYS 325 next Fall to get started understanding the complex world we live in.
CMPLXSYS 325 | Fall 2026 | Mondays and Wednesdays 10-11:30AM | 3 Credits
Agent-based modeling is where Complex Systems comes to life. In CMPLXSYS 270, you’ll build, test, and rethink how individual actions shape larger systems. Take the first step—register for CMPLXSYS 270 this fall.
| Monday | 8:30am - 5pm |
| Tuesday | 8am - 5pm |
| Wednesday | 8:30am - 5pm |
| Thursday | 8:30am - 5pm |
| Friday | 9am - 5pm |