Mirsad Hadzikadic

Mirsad has over thirty years of information technology experience combining business and academic environments. Mirsad’s professional career started in Bosnia and Herzegovina where he was a software developer at Rudi Cajavec, and the Vice President for Research and Development at Medical Electronics. Dr. Hadzikadic joined the UNC Charlotte faculty in 1987 after receiving his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Southern Methodist University where he was a Fulbright Scholar. Mirsad has published three edited books and over 40 scientific papers published in journals and conference proceedings. Mirsad has made presentations at national and international conferences, leading information technology firms, and universities. His research activities have been primarily focused on machine learning, data mining, data science, cognitive science, health informatics, and complex adaptive systems. From 1991 to 1997, Mirsad served as the Director of the Department of Medical Informatics and the Department of Orthopedic Informatics at the Carolinas HealthCare System. In 1998, he joined Deloitte and Touche Consulting Group as Manager in the Health Systems Integration Service Line. Mirsad returned full time to the University in January 1999 to assume the Chairmanship of the Department of Computer Science and serve as the Associate Director of the School of Information Technology. Mirsad helped to shepherd the transition from a school in the College of Engineering into an independent College of Computing and Informatics, and served as its Founding Dean. Until 2018 Mirsad served as the Founding Executive Director of the Data Science Initiative at UNC Charlotte. Mirsad is currently serving as a Professor of Software and Information Systems and the Founding Director of the Complex Systems Institute at UNC Charlotte.

Cities are complex systems that have their own rhythm, metabolism, and culture. Simulating them as complex systems can help designers and planners establish sustainable communities. p>