MIT System Dynamics Group

MIT Sloan School logoE60-375 Sloan School of Management
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA 02139 USA

The System Dynamics Group was founded in the early 1960s by Professor Jay W. Forrester at MIT. At that time, he began applying what he had learned about systems during his work in electrical engineering to every day kinds of systems. What makes using system dynamics different from other approaches to studying complex systems is the use of feedback loops. Stocks and flows help describe how a system is connected by feedback loops which create the nonlinearity found so frequently in modern day problems. Computers software is used to simulate a system dynamics model of the situation being studied. Running "what if" simulations to test certain policies on such a model can greatly aid in understanding how the system changes over time.

The System Dynamics Group Research Projects

Professor John D. Sterman is the director of the System Dynamics Group. The Group has three main areas of research at this time.

The National Model Project strives for a better understanding of how the U.S. economy works. The Group uses the System Dynamics National Model which generates behavior as observed in an actual economy for the interactions of local structures and decision-making policies, building a bridge that joins microstructure with macrobehavior. Corporations and private individuals fund this research.

The System Dynamics in Education Project was established in 1990. Writing the Road Maps series is the main area of activity. Road Maps is a "do it yourself" workbook for learning system dynamics which is now available online. Many books and thousands of papers cover the field of system dynamics. With all of these resources available, it is difficult to know where to begin learning about system dynamics. Besides selected system dynamics papers, Road Maps uses modeling exercises (for STELLA II) to provide a way of learning about the principles of system dynamics.

2001 System Dynamics Group Publications List

This 32 page document includes working papers, dissertations and management flight simulators that are available for purchase through the mail. It is in pdf which is readable with the Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you need instructions on how to set it up, you can visit the Adobe site or read our help page.

Sponsorship

Primary funding for all the research of the System Dynamics Group comes from about fifteen corporations and private individuals who have made a commitment of both time and money to support the research. A sponsors' contribution can be either a tax deductible contribution or a business expense. Contributions can be in "soft-dollars" through arrangements with several brokerage firms. The annual amount depends on the financial scale of the sponsor.

Graduate Program

For information about the graduate program in system dynamics, contact The Sloan School of Management.

Executive Education Summer Session

The System Dynamics Group teaches a one week course in June of each year. While the main focus is using system dynamics in business applications, a variety of examples are used during this "crash course in system dynamics." Please contact the Sloan Executive Education Office at sloanexeced@mit.edu for current information.

Staff

Professor John D. Sterman
Director, System Dynamics Group
Professor of Management

Jay W. Forrester
Professor Emeritus and
Senior Lecturer

Nelson Repenning
Assistant Professor
Sloan School of Management

Jim Hines
Senior Lecturer

Nan Lux
Program Manager

Claudia Forero
Administrative Assistant
Sloan School of Management

Graduate Students:

For further information contact Nan Lux at (617) 253-1574 or nlux@mit.edu

MIT SDEP Home | Help | Comments

Page address: http://sysdyn.mit.edu/sd-group/home.html

Created: Feb 2, 1996
Updated: Mar 10, 2000
Page maintained by webmasters@sysdyn.mit.edu
Comments and questions are always welcome.