An introduction to theoretical studies of systems of many interacting components, the individual dynamics of which may be simple, but the collective dynamics of which are often nonlinear and analytically intractable. Topics vary from year to year. Format includes both pedagogical lectures and round-table reviews of current literature. Subjects of interest include: problems in natural science (e.g., geology, ecology, and biology) where quantitative theory is still in development; problems in physics, such as turbulence, that demonstrate powerful concepts such as scaling and universality; and modern computational methods for the simulation and study of such problems. Discussions in context of contemporary experimental or observational data.

Three Weeks in March is a data-driven approach to modeling the spread of coronavirus cases in the United States.In this activity, students will use a difference equation to model day-to-day changes in the known cases of coronavirus within U.S. borders, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during the first three weeks of March, 2020. The solution to this difference equation is an exponential model. The activity can serve as an introduction to exponential models.The main goals of this activity are to:Learn the idea of difference equation;Model exponential growth using a difference equation;Simulate exponential growth and estimate a parameter value using software.These resources were created by Dr. Rob Kipka of Lake Superior State University.