Simulation modeling is a group of methods for representing complex systems that involves evaluating the model behaviour over time. Agent-based simulation models are specified as a number of autonomous and unique agents that interact with their environment and other agents locally. For communicable disease modeling, the agents often represent people who interact with each other and spread infection within the simulation. Basic concepts underlying agent-based simulation models will be discussed and examples from two modeling studies examined.

Bio: Wade McDonald is a Ph.D. Student in Computer Science studying with Prof. Nathaniel D. Osgood in the Computational Epidemiology and Public Health Informatics Lab (CEPHIL) at the University of Saskatchewan. His Ph.D. research is focussed on informing epidemilogical simulation models with wastewater surveillance data. Wade originally hails from the Town of The Pas, Manitoba. Wade previously studied Civil Engineering and holds 10 years of teaching experience at the University College of the North in The Pas. Wade's research interests include Simulation Modeling and cross-disciplinary applications in Computer Science.