With newspapers — and news magazine — cutting staff on
an almost weekly basis, some of us in journalism are going to have to
reinvent ourselves.  One of our tenents of Analytic Journalism is
simulation modeling, a methodology and analytic tool we believe will be
to the social sciences in the 21st century (and journalism IS a social
science) what quantum physics was to the hard sciences in the
20th. So here's an interesting opportunity for someone.

“> The Department of Mathematics as the University of California, Los

> Angeles is soliciting applications for a postdoctoral fellowship

> position in Mathematical and Computational Social Science.  The

> qualified applicant will work in the UC Mathematical and Simulation


> Modeling of Crime Group (UCMaSC), a collaboration between the UCLA

> Department of Mathematics, UCLA Department of Anthropology, UC

> Irvine Department of Criminology, Law and Society and the Los

> Angeles Police Department to study the dynamics of crime hot spot


> formation.  The research will center on (1) development of formal

> models applicable to the study of interacting particle systems, or

> multi-agent systems, (2) simulation of these systems and (3)


> directed empirical testing of models using contemporary crime data

> from Los Angeles and other Southern Californian cities.

>

> The initial appointment is for one year, with possible renewal for


> up to three years.  For information regarding the UCMaSC Group visit

>

> http://paleo.sscnet.ucla.edu/ucmasc.htm

>

> DUTIES: Work closely with an interdisciplinary team of


> mathematicians, social scientists and law enforcement officials to

> develop new mathematical and computational methodologies for

> understanding crime hot spot formation, diffusion and dissipation.


> Responsibilities include teaching one course in the Department of

> Mathematics per year, publication and presentation of research

> results.

>

> REQUIRED: A recent Ph.D. in Mathematics, Physics or a related


> field.  The qualified applicant is expected to have research

> experience in one or more areas that would be relevant to the study

> of interacting particle/multi-agent systems including, but not

> limited to, mathematical and statistical physics, complex systems,


> and partial differential equations modeling.  The applicant is also

> required to have advanced competency in one or more programming

> languages/environments (e.g., C++, Java, Matlab).

>

> Qualified candidates should e-mail a cover let, CV and the phone


> numbers, e-mail addresses, and postal addresses of three

> individuals who can provide recommendation to:

>

> Dr. P. Jeffrey Brantingham

> Department of Anthropology

> 341 Haines Hall


> University of California, Los Angeles

> Los Angeles, CA 90095″