Complex Systems Year in Review

It has been an exciting and impactful year at the Center for the Study of Complex Systems. As the academic year comes to a close, we invite you to join us in celebrating and reflecting on a year filled with discovery, collaboration, and meaningful impact. This year has been a testament to the power of interdisciplinary thinking and collaboration. We are grateful to everyone who contributed to making this such a dynamic and inspiring year. In this article...

• Mark Newman awarded the 2026 John von Neumann Prize
• Scott Page’s The Difference released as a Princeton Classic
• Daniel Romero named a Distinguished Member by the Association for Computing Machinery
• Robert Ziff presents ”Exact Results and Universality in Anisotropic Percolation” at Rutgers
• Anna Guerrero joins Complex Systems as the newest postdoctoral fellow
• A farewell to David Sabin-Miller and his next steps
• Complex Systems raises over $17,000 in honor of Charlie Doering and Rick Riolo this Giving Blueday
• Introducing the Rick Riolo Undergraduate Research Prize winners
• Agent-Based Modeling Poster Contest
• The launch of the Undergraduate Society for Complex Systems
• Complex Systems relaunches social media channels with new interviews and stories from students and faculty
• A year filled with exciting Complex Systems seminars

What began as a day of giving quickly became a moment of reflection, gratitude, and collective memory of those left a legacy. On Giving Blueday, the Complex Systems community came together to raise $7,075, united by the impact Charlie Doering and Rick Riolo had on the field and on the people within it. That momentum carried forward beyond the day itself, bringing in over $10,000 more the very next day  reaching a total of $17,675. It was a powerful reminder that the curiosity, mentorship, and spirit they each brought to Complex Systems continue to live on through this community.

To everyone who gave, shared, and showed up—thank you. This support strengthens the future of Complex Systems and ensures that the legacy of Charlie and Rick continues to shape new generations of students and scholars. We are deeply grateful for this community and look forward to all that we will continue to build together.

2026 Rick Riolo Undergraduate Research Prize winners

Please join us in celebrating the winners of the 2026 Rick Riolo Undergraduate Research Prize, Tianyong Yao and Vivaan Singhvi. Tianyong was recognized for his project, “Nested Rhythms: Cellular Dopamine Cycles and Behavioral Sleep Patterns,” and Vivaan for “A Scalable Trie Building Algorithm for High-Throughput Phyloanalysis of Wafer-Scale Digital Evolution Experiments.”
Both projects stood out for their creativity, depth, and thoughtful approach to complex problems, reflecting the kind of curiosity and interdisciplinary thinking that defined Rick Riolo’s work. We’re proud to recognize their achievements and invite you to join us in congratulating them. Read more here.

The launch of the Undergraduate Society for Complex Systems

This year marked the launch of the Undergraduate Society for Complex Systems, a student-led space for anyone curious about the field to connect, explore, and get involved. The group has already started building a strong community through social and collaborative events, including a Catan game night that sparked a new group project. Since then, members have been working together to develop and test agent-based models to explore different strategies within the game, bringing theory to life in a hands-on way.

If you’re interested in Complex Systems but not quite ready to commit to the minor, this is a great place to start. And if you know students who might be interested, feel free to share. For questions or to join the email list, reach out to club president Kirill Truntaev at truntaev@umich.edu or faculty advisor Jeff Dunworth at dunworth@umich.edu. Read more here.

Agent-Based Modeling Poster Contest

Each semester, we celebrate a semester of complexity with pizza, posters, and a little friendly competition. This year, students in COMPLXSYS 270: Agent-Based Modeling presented original poster projects exploring how interactions between individual agents can produce complex, emergent behavior across real-world systems. The poster competition took place in both the Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 semesters, highlighting the creativity and range of student work in complex systems.

In the fall, Anjan Singer won first place for “Modelling Water by Its Atoms with a Particle-Life Approach,” a project examining whether the macroscopic properties of water could emerge from atomic-scale agent interactions. Other winning projects explored civilization survival, poker strategy, and relationship dynamics, reflecting the interdisciplinary reach of agent-based modeling. Read more here.

In the winter, Samantha Mazza and Natalie Vogt took first place for “The Science of Lines: Simulating Theme Park Queues,” a Cedar Point-inspired model that used agent-based simulation to explore human decision-making, park layout, and queue behavior. Additional winning projects modeled topics such as pollution regulation, campaign strategy in swing states, and leadership styles in organizations. Read more here.

Complex Systems is back on social media and, in true complex systems fashion, the momentum is already building! Through interviews reflecting on the lives and legacies of Charlie Doering and Rick Riolo, we’ve been able to share their impact with a new generation, including those who may never have had the chance to know them personally but are still shaped by the community they helped build.

We’ve also been sitting down with faculty to talk about what complex systems is, what they study, and what makes this field so compelling, alongside student features that spotlight the remarkable work happening across our community. Taken together, these stories offer a fuller picture of Complex Systems: the people, the questions, the research, and the many ways this community continues to grow. Click here to follow along for what’s ahead and never miss a beat.