
About NICO
NICO's mission is to incubate innovative collaborations that leverage complexity, networks, and data science to address societal challenges. The Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO) was founded in 2004 with the goals of uncovering fundamental principles that govern complex systems in science, technology, and human behavior.
NICO is a collaboration between the McCormick School of Engineering and the Kellogg School of Management.


Announcements
The lastest news and events from the NICO.


NICO Interdisciplinary Research Networking Luncheon Groups
Networking luncheons have been meeting since 2017 to facilitate networking among faculty, stimulate discussion of significant and emerging research areas, and advance interdisciplinary research.
Metropolitan Chicago Data-science Corps (MCDC)
MCDC is an NSF funded initiative that is administered by NICO. It is a collaboration of community organizations and data science students and experts from multiple Chicago-area universities and colleges.

Apply to Open Positions at NICO
NICO is seeking exceptional candidates for Post Doctoral Fellows and research assistance in computational social science, science of science, and complex systems.
News & Events
News

Creativity Across Domains
In PNAS Nexus, Julio Ottino describes different types of creativity in the sciences and arts, explores possible limits to AI’s creativity, and differentiates a breakthrough from a “break-with.”

AI identifies key gene sets that cause complex disease
A Northwestern research team, led by Adilson Motter, have developed a new computational tool for identifying the gene combinations underlying complex illnesses like diabetes, cancer and asthma.

Renewal of NIH Grants Linked to More Innovative Results, Study Finds
Brian Uzzi is quoted in Nature on the importance of continuity in science funding. If researchers “get their knees cut out from under them” midstream, leaving their work unfinished, Uzzi says, “that’s disruptive to the advancement of science”.

When Put to the Test, Are We Any Good at Spotting AI Fakes?
Research led by Matthew Groh finds that people distinguish between real and fake images in about five out of every six images they see. This research highlights some of the most common tells for AI-generated images.
Upcoming Events
Connect with NICO

NICO Listserv
Subscribe to the NICO Listserv and receive information about the Wednesdays@NICO Speaker Series, Data Science Nights, and other NICO news and events.

NICO Reading Group
The NICO reading group meets regularly over lunch to discuss recent papers, fundamentals, and emerging trends in complexity research.