3rd International Winter School and Conference on Network Science

This book contains original research chapters related to the interdisciplinary field of complex networks spanning biological and environmental networks, social, technological, and economic networks.

Many natural phenomena can be modeled as networks where nodes are the primitive compounds and links represent their interactions, similarities, or distances of sorts. Complex networks have an enormous impact on research in various fields like biology, social sciences, engineering, and cyber-security to name a few. The topology of a network often encompasses important information on the functionality and dynamics of the system or the phenomenon it represents. Network science is an emerging interdisciplinary discipline that provides tools and insights to researchers in a variety of domains.

NetSci-X is the central winter conference within the field and brings together leading researchers and innovators to connect, meet, and establish interdisciplinary channels for collaboration.  It is the largest and best known event in the area of network science. 

This text demonstrates how ideas formulated by authors with different backgrounds are transformed into models, methods, and algorithms that are used to study complex systems across different domains and will appeal to researchers and students within in the field. 



Rami Puzis:

Dr Rami Puzis is a faculty member at the Department of Software and Information Systems Engineering at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where he has graduated BSc in Software Engineering, MSc and PhD in Information Systems Engineering. Rami was a post-doctoral research associate in the Lab for Computational Cultural Dynamics, University of Maryland. His main research interests include network analysis with applications to security, social networks, computer communication, and simulations. Over the past years Rami has managed multiple research projects funded by Deutsche Telekom AG, Israeli Ministry of Defense, Israeli Ministry of Trade and Commerce, and leading cyber security industries in Israel.

Erez Shmueli:

Dr. Erez Shmueli is a senior lecturer and the head of the Big Data Lab at the department of Industrial Engineering at Tel-Aviv University, and a research affiliate at the MIT Media Lab. He received his BA degree (with honors) in Computer Science from the Open University of Israel, and MSc and PhD degrees in Information Systems Engineering from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, under the supervision of Prof. Yuval Elovici. After completing his PhD, he spent two years as a post-doctoral associate at the MIT Media Lab, at the Human Dynamics group headed by Prof. Alex 'Sandy' Pentland. His research interests include Big Data, Complex Networks, Computational Social Science, Machine Learning, Recommender Systems, Database Systems, Information Security and Privacy. His professional experience includes being a programmer and a team leader in the Israeli Air-Force and a project manager in Deutsche Telekom Laboratories at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Baruch Barzel:

Dr. Baruch Barzel is a senior lecturer and the head of the Complex Network Dynamics Lab at the department of Mathematics of Bar-Ilan University. He received his B.Sc. degree (with honors) in Physics and Chemistry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, as well as his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Physics, conducted under the supervision of Prof. Ofer Biham, as a Hoffman Fellow. After completing his PhD, Baruch continued to pursue post-doctoral research at the Center for Complex Network Research of Northeastern University, Boston, headed by Prof. Albert-László Barabási, and at the Channing Division of Network Medicine of the Harvard Medical School, under the guidance of Dr. Yang-Yu Liu. His research interests include Complex Networks, Network Dynamics, Stochastic Systems, Nonlinear Physics and Complex Systems.