CASI’s research mission is to develop and promote a new science of biosocial system dynamics that uses a complex systems paradigm, computational thinking and quantitative methods to forge a new and holistic understanding of life and society.

The research arm of CASI falls under the umbrella of the Consortium for Biosocial Complex Systems. Directed by Sander van der Leeuw — a pioneer in the application of the complex adaptive systems approach to socio-environmental challenges — the consortium brings together three research units of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Through the integrated efforts of the researchers at the Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity, the Center for the Study of Institutional Diversity and the Mathematical, Computational and Modeling Sciences Center, the consortium generates fresh insight into global challenges and transforms their findings into real-life applications that improve the human condition.