SFI is re-offering its popular massive open online course (MOOC) in complex systems science, "Introduction to Complexity," beginning September 30, 2013. 

For registration information, visit http://complexityexplorer.org

The course is an accessible introduction to the field, with no pre-requisites and no course fees. It is free and open to anyone.

Watch the course preview video

"You don't need a science or math background to take this introductory course," says SFI External Professor Melanie Mitchell, the course's instructor. "It simply requires an interest in the field and the willingness to participate in a hands-on approach to the subject."

Participants will learn about the tools used by complex systems scientists to understand, and sometimes to control, complex systems. Topics include dynamics, chaos, fractals, information theory, computation theory, evolution and adaptation, agent-based modeling, and networks.

"You’ll also get a sense of how these topics fit together to help explain how complexity arises and evolves in nature, society, and technology," she says.

Mitchell is an SFI External Professor, a professor of computer science at Portland State University, and author of the award-winning book Complexity: A Guided Tour.

This is the second offering of "Introduction to Complexity." The first offering in spring 2013 drew nearly 7,100 participants.

Read the Q&A with Melanie Mitchell about the first course.

Development of the Complexity Explorer is supported by an SFI grant from the John Templeton Foundation.