Leviathan

Dr Simon Angus (Senior Lecturer, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia)

Brief Bio

Dr SIMON ANGUS BA, BSci (Hons), PhD UNSW joined the Department of Economics, Monash University, as a Lecturer in 2008 after working for two years as a lecturer in in the School of Economics, UNSW. In January 2011 he was made a Senior Lecturer at Monash. His PhD dissertation entitled, 'Economic Networks: Communication, Cooperation & Complexity' extended a game theoretic analysis of network formation, and agent behaviour on dynamic, ad-hoc networks. He has a keen interest in the Science of Complexity arising from his diverse background across science and engineering, which has so far resulted in research projects spanning self-organising polymer films (and here), systems biology models of cancer (and here), complex-adaptive neural regulation of fatigue (and here), and a novel open-ended evolutionary approach to technology networks. His recent and current projects mostly consider technology and inventions using methods from across the sciences. In 2004 Simon was selected as one of 10 doctoral students to attend the Santa Fe Institute (SFI) (NM, USA) Graduate Workshop on Computational Social Sciences and Complexity, and was again selected to return to SFI in 2007 to attend the month-long SFI Complex Systems Summer School. He also has a strong interest in the scholarly approach to best-practice teaching and learning, having developed and implemented a novel lecture materials and delivery system based on the powerful LaTeX-Beamer system whilst teaching undergraduate courses at the UNSW. He was the joint 2008 winner (with Judith Watson) of the UNSW Australian School of Business, Faculty Teaching and Learning Award for Innovations in Teaching and Learning, an awardee of the 2009 Monash Faculty of Business and Economics Dean's Excellence in Teaching Award, and in 2010 was awarded a Vice Chancellor's Citation for Excellence in Teaching. In 2011 Simon was recognised by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council with a Citation for Outstanding teaching. In 2010 he launched a new resource for Economics students, EconomicsNow! (http://www.econnow.com/) which features podcasts and articles on Economic Development, Climate Change and Economics thinking in general.

Simon, c.Apr 2008

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CV

CONTACT INFORMATION

Physical

Room E962 (East wing, 9th floor), Menzies Building, Clayton Campus, Monash University, Clayton, Melbourne Australia

Electronic Mail

<simon DOT angus AT monash DOT edu>

Telephony

Phone: (+61 3) 9905 2429, Fax: (+61 3) 9905 5476, Get your international calling code here

Post

Dept. Economics, Monash University, Clayton 3800, VIC Australia.

Coming to Melbourne? Welcome to Melbourne!

Roles @Monash

Role @City on a Hill (voluntary, part time)

Research

Simon's research interests are eclectic due to his background, but currently fall roughly into areas such as:

Publishing in ABM Journals Resource:

Grants

  1. auDA Foundation Grant PhD grant (K. Ackermann): A new, high spatial-resolution, dataset on Internet use in Australia ($23k), Jan 2014. details

  2. Faculty Pilot Research Grant: How was Australian Economic Behaviour affected by the Global Financial Crisis? Evidence from online search data ($11,000), Jan 2013.

  3. Dept. Economics Grant: Mapping the industrial revolution ($9,600), Jan 2012.

  4. ITL Innovations Grant: "Identifying Critical Activators in Online Discussion Forums" ($4,000), April 2011.
  5. Matt Berryman (U.SA, Defense and Systems Institute): UniSA ARC Discovery Project Grant Development Scheme (for DP11), 'Modelling the economics of conducting insurgencies and terrorist campaigns'

  6. Faculty Pilot Research Grant (2009) (with Brett Parris): An integrated climate-economy agent-based model of Bangladesh for the next 100 years

  7. Monash Europe Travel Grant (2008-2009): to work with Dr Monika Piotrowska (Warsaw) on computational modelling of avascular tumours (see publications)

  8. Faculty Educational Innovation Grant (2008-2009): to establish EconomicsNow! .

  9. Faculty New Staff Grant (2008-2009)

Selected Publications & Presentations

OR: Simon's profile at Google Scholar

Peer-reviewed Publications

Journal Articles

11

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Angus, S.D. and Piotrowska, M.J. 'A matter of timing: identifying significant multi-dose radiotherapy improvements by numerical simulation and genetic algorithm search', PLOS-ONE, in-press. (ERA2010:A SJR2013:1.72,Q1)

10

Ackermann, K. and Angus, S.D., 'A Resource Efficient Big Data Analysis Method for the Social Sciences: The Case of Global IP Activity', 2014 International Conference on Computational Science, published in Procedia Computer Science, 29:2360-2369 (2014). citation/abstract. (ERA2010:A SJR2013:0.28)

9

Angus, S.D., 'Did recent world record marathon runners employ 'optimal' pacing strategies?', Journal of Sports Sciences, 32(1):31-45 (2014). published online citation/abstract. (ERA2010:B [scimagojr.com/journalsearch.php?q=21090&tip=sid&clean=0 SJR2013:1.31,Q1])

8

Angus, S.D. and Newnham, A., 'The Bit-Economy: An artificial model of specialisation and open-ended technology discovery', Complexity, 18(5):57-67 (2013). abstract/citation Paper website (documented code available). (ERA2010:B SJR2013:0.49,Q1)

7

Angus, S.D. and Piotrowska, M.J. 'A numerical model of EMT6/Ro spheroid dynamics under irradiation: calibration & estimation of the underlying irradiation-induced cell survival probability', Journal of Theoretical Biology, 320:23–32, (2013). (citation/abstract). (ERA2010:A* SJR2013:1.05,Q1)

6

Angus, S.D. and Waterhouse, B.J., 'Pacing Strategy from High Frequency Field Data: more evidence for neural regulation?', Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 43(12):2405–2411 (2011). citiation/abstract (ERA2010:A* SJR2013:2.25,Q1) [citations*: 4]

5

Angus, S.D. and Piotrowska, M.J.; 'The onset of necrosis in a 3D cellular automaton model of EMT6 Multi-cellular spheroids', Applicationes Mathematicae 37(1):69-88 (2010). citation/abstract (ERA2010:C)

4

Piotrowska, M.J. and Angus, S.D.; 'A quantitative cellular automaton model of in vitro multicellular spheroid tumour growth', Journal of Theoretical Biology, 258:165-178 (2009) doi:citation/abstract (ERA2010:A* SJR2013:1.05,Q1) [10]

3

Angus, S.D and Watson, J., 'Does regular online testing enhance student learning? Evidence from a large first-year quantitative course', British Journal of Educational Technology (BJET) 40(2):255-272 (2009). citation/abstract (ERA2010:A SJR2013:1.52,Q1) [22] Read John Kleeman's post on this article at questionmark.com

2

Lord, H.T., Quinn, J.F., Angus, S.D., Whittaker, M.R. and Davis, T.P.; `Microgel Stars via Reversible Addition Fragmentation Chain Transfer Polymerization -- A Facile Route to Macroporous Membranes, Honeycomb Patterned Thin Films and Inverse Opal Substrates', Journal of Materials Chemistry, 13 (2003), 2819--2824. Free PDF Download (ERA2010:A SJR2013:2.4,Q1) [100]

1

Angus, S.D. and Davis, T.P.; `Polymer Surface Design and Infomatics: Facile Microscopy/Image Analysis Techniques for Self-Organizing Microporous Polymer Film Characterization', Langmuir, 18 (2002), 9547--9553. citation/abstract (ERA2010:A* SJR2013:2.01,Q1) [17]

* Citations updated: June 2014 via Scopus.

Mimeos/Book Chapters

1

Berryman, M.J. and Angus, S.D.; 'Tutorials on Agent-based modelling with NetLogo and Network Analysis with Pajek', Chapter 10 in R.L. Dewar & F. Detering (Eds), Complex Physical, Biophysical & Econophysical Systems, World Scientific Reviews (Published March 2010). (ISBN: 978-981-4277-31-0) Order/view here

2

Angus, S.D.; 'Economic Networks: Cooperation, Communication and Complexity', 2007, PhD Dissertation, UNSW). (Download, 1.8MB)

Proceedings

Other books

In the public domain

  1. Angus, S.D.; 'The Power of Integration: Assessing a Recent Best-Practice Method for Large-Class Instructional Materials Generation & Presentation' (February 12, 2008). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1106362. SSRN Abstract/Download page

Recent/Current Work

Submitted (in review)

  1. (with Jonathan Newton (U Sydney)) 'Coalitions, tipping points and the speed of evolution' (working-paper (.pdf)).

In preparation

  1. (with Behrooz Hassani (Monash U)) 'Explaining human interest'.

  2. (with Behrooz Hassani (Monash U)) 'The Communication of Agent-based Modelling models & results: a systematic review'.

Workshop and Seminar Organisation

  1. Instructor, organiser of the Agent-based and network modelling workshop (with Matt Berryman) at the ANU Complex Physical, Biophysical and Econophysical Systems Summer (ANU, 8-19 Dec, 2008) link

  2. Organising committee, Complex Connections at Kioloa(Kioloa Campus, ANU, 11-14 Nov, 2008) an COSNet ECR (and other) research collaboration workshop link

  3. Founding member (with David Goldbaum and Valentyn Panchenko) of the Sydney Agents Agent-based modelling seminar series (UNSW, UTS, founded June, 2007) link

  4. Instructor, organiser of computing tutorials, COSNet & MASCOS Complex Systems: Beyond the Metaphor workshop (UNSW, Feb, 2007) link

Selected Presentations given at Conferences, Workshops & Seminars

  1. Angus, S.D., 'Graphs in Economics -- a sampler', Discrete & Game Theory group, Monash University, 16 Dec 2013.

  2. Angus, S.D and Newnham, A., 'Mapping the Industrial Revolution: A 'big-data' approach to inventions, innovation & technology in Europe & the US: 1750-1950', RMIT Economics Research Seminar, 4 Oct 2013.

  3. Angus, S.D. & Hassani, B., 'Learning Culture from Google Trends', FC Pye Laboratory Seminar, CSIRO Black Mountain, Canberra, 8 Aug 2013.

  4. Angus, S.D., & Newnham, A., 'The Bit-Economy: an artificial model of specialisation and open-ended technology growth', FC Pye Laboratory Seminar, CSIRO Black Mountain, Canberra, 18 July 2013.

  5. Angus, S. and Newnham, A., 'Mapping the Industrial Revolution: A 'big-data' approach to inventions, innovation & technology in Europe & the US: 1750-1950', U Sydney Research Seminar, 13 Sep 2012.

  6. (.pdf.zip) Angus, S., and Newnham, A., Everyone needs a map: educational mapping of units, disciplines, faculties and universities, Department of Economics Teaching Week 2011 Research Seminar, 21 September, 2011.

  7. (.pdf) Angus, S.D., Parris, B., and Hassani, M, 'Embracing Complexity in Economics Education: Experiences from a new unit in complex adaptive systems and agent-based modelling', Australian Conference of Economists, ANU, 13 July 2011.

  8. (.pdf) Angus, S.D., & Newnham, A., 'The Bit-Economy: an artificial model of specialisation and open-ended technology growth', Sydney Agents seminar, UNSW, 26 May 2011.

  9. (.pdf) Angus, S.D., 'Why is economics not an evolutionary science?', Department of Economics Wednesday Research Seminar, 6 October 2010.

  10. (.pdf) Angus, S.D., Parris, B., Hassani, B.M, 'Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation in Bangladesh', 18th World IMACS Congress and MODSIM09 International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, Cairns, Australia, 13–17 July 2009.

  11. (.pdf) Angus, S.D., & Piotrowska, P.J., 'Challenges and Opportunities for Computational Oncology in Cellular Automata', Mathematical and Computational Approaches in Biology and Medicine, University of Warsaw, 15-16 June 2009, Warsaw, Poland.

  12. (.pdf) Angus, S.D.; 'Endogenous Cooperation Networks', invited seminars at University of Sydney (2 APril), and University of Adelaide (3 April) Departments of Economics.

  13. (.pdf)Angus, S.D.; 'Learning to communicate: Communication networks and inductive reasoning', presented at the Behavioural Economics Workshop, Monash University, June 2008.

  14. (.pdf) Brown, A. and Angus, S.D.; 'The Social-welfare cost of fraud: evidence from an agent-based model', presented at the Sydney Agents seminar series (Apr 2008).

  15. (.pdf) Watson, J. and Angus, S.D.; 'Does regular online testing enhance student learning? Evidence from a large first-year quantitative course', presented at the 2008 forum on the Quantitative Analysis of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in Business, Economics and Commerce, Feb 2008, Melbourne University, Australia.

  16. (.pdf) Angus, S.D.; 'Genotype or Phenotype? The conflation of two concepts in evolutionary game theory', presented at the Sydney Agents seminar series (Oct 2007), and the Theory Workshop, School of Economics, UNSW.

  17. (.pdf) Angus, S.D.; 'Freedom from Powerpoint: An introduction to creating clear, structured, & efficient presentations & notes for conferences and lectures with LaTeX and Beamer', presented at the Faculty Seminar Series, FCE, UNSW, Oct 2006, UNSW, Sydney, Australia. (webpage: InSilico/PresentationsAlaLatex)

  18. (.pdf) Angus, S.D.; `Endogenous Communication Networks with Boundedly Rational Agents', presented at the Econometric Society Australasian Meeting, July 2006, Alice Springs, Australia.

  19. (.pdf) Angus, S.D.; `Cooperation Networks: Endogeneity and Complexity', presented at the 6th International Conference on Complexity Science, June 2006, Boston, MA, USA; and at Network Theory Working Group, meeting III, June 2006, Canberra, Australia.

  20. (.pdf) Angus, S.D.; `Endogenous Cooperation Networks: a Complex Systems Approach', presented at Bonzenfries Colloqium (for young researchers) within Econophysics Colloqium 2005, ANU, Canberra, Australia.

Public Activities

Simon:

Teaching

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Simon teaching 3rd years Complexity Science

(c. Oct 2011)

Awards

  1. Australian Learning & Teaching Council (ALTC) Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning (2011) (citation). ALTC-AwardStatement2011 (.pdf) Congratulations from the VC (.pdf)

  2. Monash Vice-Chancellor's Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning (2010) VC-AwardStatement2010 (.pdf)

  3. Monash Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award (2009) Dean-AwardStatement2009 (.pdf)

  4. Australian School of Business (Faculty of BusEco at UNSW) Teaching Innovation Awards (2008) (jointly, with Judith Watson)

Misc

Research Presentation Skills Workshop

Simon's advice on putting together teaching and learning grants:

Simon was interviewed for case-studies in collaborative teaching:

Other

  1. Dean's Commendation for Outstanding Teaching (2010), Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University.

Talks on Teaching and Learning

  1. (.pdf.zip) Angus, S., "Blended Learning: a player's perspective", Department of Accounting and Finance Learning and Teaching Forum, 7 Dec 2011.

  2. (.pdf.zip) Angus, S., and Newnham, A., Everyone needs a map: educational mapping of units, disciplines, faculties and universities, Department of Economics Teaching Week 2011 Research Seminar, 21 September, 2011.

  3. (.pdf) Angus, S., Clouding around with an iPad, '2011 Accounting and Finance Cool Tools for Teaching and Learning', 10 Feb 2011, Caulfield Campus, Monash University).

  4. (.pdf) Angus, S., Would the useful iPad Lecturing App please stand up?: Tablet PCs, iPads and other adventures at the bleeding edge, 'Australasian Tablets in Education Conference', 10 Dec 2010, Caulfield Campus, Monash University).

  5. (.pdf) Angus, S., Teaching awards: a player's perspective, 'Business Education Research Network', 27 October 2010 (Innovative learning space, Monash, Caulfield)

  6. (.pdf) Angus, S., Tablets in Economics: use and experiences, 'Monash Tablets in Education' Forum, 26 May 2010 (Monash Club, Clayton).

  7. (.pdf) Angus, S., Technology and Innovations for Teaching Large Classes, Department of Economics -- 'Effective Teaching' Forum, 1 May 2009 Dept. Economics, Caulfield Campus.

Supervision

I have been fortunate to work with some outstanding students, please have a read of their work below. NB: If you would like to contact the author, or discuss the work, please email Simon (address at top of the page).

Honours

Simon's Honours Honour Role:

PhD

Simon's current PhD students:

Thinking of doing a PhD?

Units Taught

Current Teaching Responsibilities

  1. (S1, 2009 -) ECC2800: Prosperity, Poverty & Sustainability (Handbook) PPS Unit Guide (2010) (.pdf)

    • A new unit (introduced S1, 2009) that deals with long-run growth, the determinants of poverty, poverty alleviation and the impact of climate change on developed and developing countries. It has no pre-requisites, so it is perfect for a non-BusEco student who is keen to get stuck into the big Economics issues shaping our times.

Previous

Monash 2010-2012

  1. (S2, 2010 - 2012) ECC3860: Integrated Economic Modelling (Handbook) IEM Unit Guide (2010) (.pdf)

    • A new unit (introduced S2, 2010) that builds on the shorter six-week offering of ECC3855 (see below), teaching a Complex Systems perspective on the economy together with an agent-based modelling toolset. We deal head-on with the difficult modelling challenges of modern economics: the dual feedbacks from the 'macro' to the 'micro' and from the 'micro' to the 'macro'. The specific application example will be how to handle the economics of climate change, migration, conflict and growth.

Monash 2008

  1. (S1, 2008) ECC5650: Advanced Micro Theory (Handbook)

    • Post-graduate level micro -- proofs and propositions with sets.
  2. (S1, 2008) ECC2810: Globalisation and Economic Systems (Handbook)

    • A critical look at the major organisational and ideological economic arrangements of the 20th C. including Stalinist and Leninist Russia, the Scandanavian welfare state, Japan's post-war boom, and of course, the contemporary market economy. For a taste, see The Commanding Heights documentary online.

  3. (S2, 2008) ECC3855: Complex Systems & Agent-based Modelling (Pre-Honours topic)

    • A primer in complex systems and agent-based modelling, run for 6 weeks in the pre-honours unit. See the excellent student projects here: ECC3855 Project Exhibit

UNSW 2006-2007

  1. ECON1201: Quantitative Methods A
    • An introductory maths unit focussing on Financial maths, Probability primer, Linear algebra (with an emphasis on using software), Linear programming, Calculus (up to constrained optimization in several variables).
    • With Judith Watson, we undertook a comprehensive review of 'QMA' including content, assessment and lecture delivery, some sampel fruit from this review process are given here:

    • The updated Course Outline (.pdf)]

    • An Example lecture (.pdf)

    • The corresponding Example Slides (.pdf)

  2. ECONX: Game Theory and Business Strategy
    • A Game Theory primer including: Normal and Extensive form games; Nash, SPNE solution concepts; Mixed strategies and solutions; Evolutionary games; Bargaining; and Duopoly solutions.
    • What's Game Theory? Try a primer article written for ECHO, the UNSW FCE students' society journal: Download (.pdf)

Unit and Teaching Evaluation scores

In the interests of full disclosure, I'm publishing here my teaching evaluations. The unit evaluations are available to students and staff of Monash, but the teaching evaluations (which are voluntary) are not. However, I feel it is good practice to allow students to know what they are getting. Like any teacher, I have some weaknesses in teaching and some strengths. I care a lot about my teaching, and aim to improve.

Note: Since there's now a lot of these links, I've summarised the Unit Evaluations across the years I've been at Monash for simplicity. The x-axis shows the questions that students are asked. The y-axis shows the median students give me, weighted by response rate across the various units and cohorts for a given year. I include the Faculty (BusEco) avg. median for comparison.

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(Note on 2014: I introduced a completely new feedback and assessment tool to the ECC2800/APG4429 unit in S1 (a peer-review module for the pre- and major- essay assignments). Since little else was altered, I attribute the general drop in responses to this major change. The first iteration of any major innovation has teething problems! I'm thankful to the students of 2014 who helped me see what worked and didn't. I hope to improve the approach for 2015 and beyond.)

Evaluations

Monash University (2008-- )

ECC2800 (Prosperity, Poverty & Sustainability) (also coded ENV4060 and ENV5060 (2010), and APG4429 and APG5429 (2011-))

ECC3860/ETC3860 (Integrated Economic Modelling)

ECC2810 (Globalisation & Economic Systems)

ECC5650 (Micreconomic Theory)

University of New South Wales (2006--2007)

ECON1202 (Quantitative Methods A)

Other Activities

Writing

Book chapters:

Op-ed, but didn't get published.

Miscellaneous

Churching

  1. I am part of City on a Hill -- a fantastic church that is all about knowing Jesus and making him known throughout Melbourne. Come and visit some time!

  2. Many Roooms -- I was part of a homeless project called Many Rooms, which so far has one operational 'room', called 'The Kitchen', which runs out of the North Melbourne Community centre every Saturday, feeding a hearty meal to the homeless.

  3. The Simeon Network -- the network to be part of on campus -- academics who are committed to knowing and sharing the one Truth that first inspired the foundation of the great 'uni-vers-ities'.


Leviathan: sangus (last edited 2018-01-09 01:21:08 by sangus)