Events
Past Event
Wednesdays@NICO Seminar: The Rise and Fall of US School Shootings
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
12:00 PM
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Lower Level Chambers Hall
Details
The Rise and Fall of US School Shootings
Wednesdays@NICO | 12:00-1:00 PM, May 18, 2016 | Chambers Hall, Lower Level
Adam Pah, Clinical Assistant Professor of Management & Organizations, Kellogg School of Management
Associate Director, Research Assistant Professor Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
Abstract
Frequent school shootings are a unique US phenomenon that appears to defy understanding or solution. While earlier research focused on the case study of mass killings, recent studies proposed that social contagion is a contributing factor. Unfortunately, obtaining robust findings has been hampered by the use of multiple idiosyncratic datasets. We have assembled a carefully curated dataset built upon a careful review of original sources. With our curated dataset we find that school shooting rates are time dependent and, since 2006, the US has experienced an elevated rate. We also find that when the time-dependency of the school shootings rate is accounted for we find no evidence for the role of social contagion.
Bio
Adam Pah is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Kellogg School of Management and Organizations at Northwestern University. He also serves as the Associate Director of and an Assistant Research Professor at NICO, the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems. He received his BS from Arizona State University, PhD from Northwestern University, and has worked industrially as a Data Scientist. His research is interdisciplinary and covers a range of topics; however, his work is mainly concerned with healthcare, networks, and social phenomena. Specific projects that he is currently involved with are innovation adoption in physician networks, improving healthcare quality and cost through data-driven analysis, assessing the effects of missing information on social dynamics, and social contagion.
Time
Wednesday, May 18, 2016 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location
Lower Level Chambers Hall Map
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
Fall 2026 Classes Begin
University Academic Calendar
All Day
Details
Fall 2026 Classes Begin
Time
Wednesday, September 23, 2026
Contact
Calendar
University Academic Calendar
NICO Reading Group - Fall 2026 First Meeting
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
6:00 PM
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Chambers Hall
Details
The NICO Reading Group meets for the first this fall on Wednesday, September 23, 2026. Please contact Jaeseon Ha if you are interested in joining our group.
About:
The NICO Reading Group brings together people across disciplines to read and discuss important ideas in modern AI. We focus on topics such as AI agents, tuning, harnesses, evaluation, AI for scientific discovery, and applications of AI across different fields. The goal is to understand important ideas in AI more deeply by learning and thinking across disciplines.
Leadership:
Jaeseon Ha, a Kellogg MBA + AI student, will lead the reading group during the Fall 2026 term. Please contact Jaeseon with any questions or reach out to us at nico@northwestern.edu.
Meeting Times:
Date: Biweekly on Wednesday evening, starting on September 23, 2026
Time: 6-7pm
Location: NICO main office, Chambers Hall,
600 Foster St, Evanston, IL 60208
Time
Wednesday, September 23, 2026 at 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Location
Chambers Hall Map
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
WED@NICO Seminar Series returns on September 30, 2026
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
12:00 PM
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Lower Level, Chambers Hall
Details
The Wednesdays@NICO seminar series returns September 30, 2026, running through November 11, 2026, with the following speakers.
9/30/2026 - Luis Amaral, Northwestern University
10/7/2026 - Kristina Lerman, Indiana University
10/14/2026 - Tim Tangherlini, University of California, Berkeley
10/21/2026 - Andreia Sofia Teixeira, Northeastern University London
10/28/2026 - Rafael Prieto-Curiel, Complexity Science Hub, Vienna
11/4/2026 - Hamsa Bastani, University of Pennsylvania
11/11/2026 - Mayank Agrawal, Proof of Human
We will share detailed speaker information, talk titles and abstracts, in the coming weeks.
Location:
In person: Chambers Hall, 600 Foster Street, Lower Level
Remote option TBA
About the Speaker Series:
Wednesdays@NICO is a vibrant weekly seminar series focusing broadly on the topics of complex systems, networks, and artificial intelligence. It brings together attendees ranging from graduate students to senior faculty who span all of the schools across Northwestern, from applied math to sociology to biology and every discipline in-between. Please visit: https://bit.ly/WedatNICO for information on future speakers.
Time
Wednesday, September 30, 2026 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location
Lower Level, Chambers Hall Map
Contact
Calendar
Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)