Call for Papers
Evolutionary computation (EC) and multi-agent systems and simulation (MASS) both involve populations of agents. EC is a learning technique by which a population of individual agents adapt according to the selection pressures exerted by an environment; MASS seeks to understand how to coordinate the actions of a population of (possibly selfish) autonomous agents that share an environment so that some outcome is achieved. Both EC and MASS have top-down and bottom up features. For example, some aspects of multi-agent system engineering (e.g., mechanism design) are concerned with how top-down structure can constrain or influence individual decisions. Similarly, most work in EC is concerned with how to engineer selective pressures to drive the evolution of individual behavior towards some desired goal. Multi-agent simulation (also called agent-based modeling) addresses the bottom-up issue of how collective behavior emerges from individual action. Likewise, the study of evolutionary dynamics within EC (for example in coevolution) often considers how population-level phenomena emerge from individual-level interactions. Thus, at a high level, we may view EC and MASS as examining and utilizing analogous processes. It is therefore natural to consider how knowledge gained within EC may be relevant to MASS, and vice versa; indeed, applications and techniques from one field have often made use of technologies and algorithms from the other field. Studying EC and MASS in combination is warranted and has the potential to contribute to both fields.
The EcoMASS workshop welcomes original submissions on all aspects of Evolutionary Computation and Multi-Agent Systems and Simulation, which include (but are not limited to) the following topics and themes:
- Multi-agent systems and agent-based models utilizing evolutionary computation
- Optimization of multi-agent systems and agent-based models using evolutionary computation
- Evolutionary computation models which rely not on explicit fitness functions but rather implicit fitness functions defined by the relationship to other individuals/agents
- Applications utilizing MASS and EC in combination
- Biological agent-based models (usually called individual-based models) involving evolution
- Evolution of cooperation and altruism
- Genotypic representation of the complex phenotypic strategies of MASS
- Evolutionary learning within MASS (including Baldwinian learning and phenotypic plasticity)
- Emergence and feedbacks
- Open-ended strategy spaces and evolution
- Adaptive individuals within evolving Populations
ECo-MASS 2009 Schedule
Date: Wednesday, July 8th
Location: Cartier A on C Floor
- Session 1 (14:00 - 15:50)
- 14:00 - 15:00 Invited Talk: Ken DeJong - Understanding Complex Adaptive Systems: An Evolutionary Agent-based Approach
- 15:00 - 15:25 Asynchronous Collaborative Search using Adaptive Co-Evolving Subpopulations (Chira, Gog and Dumitrescu)
- 15:25 - 15:50 Discussion
- Session 2 (16:10 - 18:00)
- 16:10 - 16:45 The Game of Funding: Modeling Peer Review for Research Grants (Bentley)
- 16:45 - 17:20 Self-Organizing Economic Activity with Costly Information (Wilson and Yan)
- 17:20 - 17:55 Self Organized Multi-Agent Entangled Hierarchies for Network Security (Holloway and Lamont)
- 17:55 - 18:00 Discussion
Accepted Papers
- Comparison of Sorting Algorithms for Multi-Fitness Measurement of Cooperative Coevolution (Shi)
- Asynchronous Collaborative Search using Adaptive Co-Evolving Subpopulations (Chira, Gog and Dumitrescu)
- The Game of Funding: Modeling Peer Review for Research Grants (Bentley)
- Self-Organizing Economic Activity with Costly Information (Wilson and Yan)
- Self Organized Multi-Agent Entangled Hierarchies for Network Security (Holloway and Lamont)
Paper Submission
Each accepted paper will be presented orally at the workshop and distributed in the workshop proceedings to all GECCO attendees. Authors should follow the format of the GECCO manuscript style; refer to http://www.sigevo.org/gecco-2009/ for details. Manuscripts should not exceed 8 pages. Papers may be submitted by 25 March, 2009 in PostScript or PDF format to: wrand@umd.edu or sevan@eecs.harvard.edu.
Important Dates
Paper submission deadline: 3 April, 2009 NEW DEADLINE
Notification of acceptance: 10 April, 2009
Camera-ready deadline: 17 April, 2009
Program Comittee
Workshop Chairs
Program Committee (as of January 10, 2009)
Previous ECoMASS Workshops
