The University of Vermont today announced the launch of the Center of Excellence in Modeling Complexity, a new interdisciplinary research center of excellence at the Vermont Complex Systems Institute dedicated to understanding and predicting the behavior of the interconnected systems that define our world. The center will be led by Laurent Hébert-Dufresne, Professor of Computer Science and one of the world's leading emerging scholars in complexity science.
Launched through seed funding from UVM’s Vermont Complex Systems Institute and in collaboration with the Translational Global Infectious Disease Research Center and the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, the new center of excellence will bring together researchers from across disciplines to develop mathematical, computational, and data-driven approaches to understanding how change spreads through complex systems—from infectious diseases and ecological disturbances to information, innovation, financial shocks, and emerging technologies.
"Our greatest challenges cannot be understood through a single lens," said Hébert-Dufresne. "Complex systems are not merely complicated; they are fundamentally interconnected, woven and inseparable. Whether we're studying pandemics, wildfire risk, social behavior, technological disruption, or economic resilience, we need new frameworks that help us understand how societal crises appear and cascade, how solutions emerge and spread, and how governance should adapt to prevent future crises. This center will create those frameworks while training the next generation of researchers to think across boundaries."
“Laurent is a scientific powerhouse," said Peter Sheridan Dodds, Director of the Vermont Complex Systems Institute. "He has a wonderful ability to uncover deep connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, revealing fundamental principles that govern everything from the spread of infectious diseases to the evolution of ideas and technologies. With his scientific originality, remarkable breadth and output, and inspirational enthusiasm, Laurent is an ideal leader for the crucial and ever expanding realm of modelling complexity.”
Initial research priorities will include:
Predictive models for emerging infectious diseases and public health threats
Resilience and adaptation in communities facing environmental and economic change
Dynamics of information ecosystems, trust, and collective behavior
Interconnected risks in social, ecological, and technological systems
Next-generation AI, network science, and computational approaches to decision-making
Cross-sector applications of complexity science to policy, industry, and public service
The center will also serve as a training hub for students and researchers seeking skills that span mathematics, computer science, data science, public health, environmental systems, and the social sciences.
"Complex systems are not merely complicated; they are fundamentally interconnected, woven and inseparable. Whether we're studying pandemics, wildfire risk, social behavior, technological disruption, or economic resilience, we need new frameworks that help us understand how societal crises appear and cascade..."
—Laurent Hébert-Dufresne
At the heart of Hébert-Dufresne's work is a deceptively simple question: How do things emerge and spread?
Over the past decade, he has built an internationally recognized research program exploring the dynamics of contagion across biological, ecological, social, and technological systems. His research has revealed common principles underlying phenomena as diverse as infectious disease transmission, forest-fire propagation, honeybee colony resilience, the spread of beliefs and behaviors, and the dynamics of online and sociotechnical networks.
Rather than treating these challenges as separate problems, Hébert-Dufresne has pioneered approaches that uncover the shared mechanisms governing how information, risk, influence, and disruptions move through interconnected systems.
"Laurent represents a new generation of scientific leaders who can bridge disciplines while producing foundational discoveries," said Kirk Dombrowski, UVM’s Vice President for Research and Economic Development, "His work has transformed how researchers think about contagion and complex networks, and his leadership will further position Vermont as a global hub for complexity science and predictive modeling."
A core faculty member of UVM's Vermont Complex Systems Institute (VCSI), Hébert-Dufresne is also an external faculty member at the Santa Fe Institute, widely regarded as one of the world's premier centers for complexity research. His international collaborations extend to the Complexity Science Hub in Vienna and Université Laval in Québec, reflecting a research network that spans continents and disciplines.
The center of excellence builds on a growing record of distinction. Hébert-Dufresne serves as director of the Mathematical and Computational Predictive Modeling Core within UVM's Translational Global Infectious Disease Research Center, supporting multiple research initiatives through advanced analytical and modeling expertise. He also serves at the founding and inaugural Editor-in-Chief of npj Complexity, the Nature Portfolio journal established to provide a dedicated home for research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.
In 2026, Hébert-Dufresne was selected as the recipient of the 2026 Young Scientist Award for Socio- and Econophysics from the German Physical Society, recognizing outstanding contributions that apply physical and mathematical methods to understanding societal and economic phenomena. Most recently, he received the Erdős-Rényi Prize from the Network Science Society, widely regarded as the field's highest honor for early-career researchers, recognizing his foundational contributions to the theory of contagion on complex networks
His award-winning work has fundamentally expanded the science of spreading processes. Among his most influential recent contributions is the development of models describing self-reinforcing cascades: processes in which the thing being transmitted evolves as it spreads and can become stronger, weaker, or otherwise transformed through repeated interactions. This insight helps explain why some ideas become movements, why misinformation can gain momentum, why innovations accelerate through communities, and why outbreaks or disruptions can behave in unexpected ways.
The Center of Excellence in Modeling Complexity will leverage these advances to tackle challenges of growing importance to communities, governments, healthcare organizations, nonprofits, and industry partners.
"The challenges facing society today are deeply interconnected," said Hébert-Dufresne. "Our goal is to create models that are not only scientifically rigorous, but also useful for helping decision-makers navigate uncertainty and creative enough to guide us to novel solutions. By better understanding complex systems, we can build a more resilient and adaptive future."
With its emphasis on transdisciplinary collaboration, predictive modeling, and real-world impact, the Center of Excellence in Modeling Complexity is positioned to advance discoveries that help explain—and shape—the rapidly evolving systems that govern modern life.