How do individuals navigate the complex problems associated with social living? What kinds of cognitive and behavioral systems underlie decisions to cooperate with others or to leave a group? My work has investigated these questions through evolutionary agent-based simulations, focusing especially on simple rules underlying cooperation and social movement such as the Walk Away strategy.
News
June 30, 2009:
Athena Aktipis will be giving Plenary talk about her work on the Walk Away strategy at the European Social Simulation Association, September 14-18.
May 12, 2009: Athena Aktipis's interactive learning tools are featured in David Sloan Wilson's blog at the Huffington Post. Wilson says: "Athena's teaching method gives students a visceral feel for the generality of multilevel selection... William D. Hamilton, the legendary founder of inclusive fitness theory (dubbed kin selection by John Maynard Smith), required several years and lots of math to reach the same conclusion."
Affiliations
University of Arizona, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Post-doctoral Fellow (2008-present)
University of Pennsylvania, Psychology Department
MA, PhD, Psychology (2003-2008)
National Science Foundation
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship recipient (2003-2005)
Portland State University, Systems Science Department
Developed and taught Agent-Based Simulation
course (2002-2003)
Economic Science Laboratory
Visiting scholar (1999)
Advocates for Women in Science, Engineering and Mathematics
Instructor in public and private schools (1999-2003)
Reed College, Department of Psychology
B.A., Psychology (1998-2002)
Contact
Email: athena.aktipis[at]gmail.com