Biocomplexity is about massively interacting systems — biological, social, cognitive, and computational. It is also about how these interact with non-living systems, including the structures and systems we create. How people interact with technology has tremendous implications for society and the economy.

Humans, animals, plants, and microorganisms are complex systems made up millions of interacting parts. Human cognition influences behavior in societies that function through the interactions of countless living and non-living systems. Societies, infrastructures, and technologies are deeply connected, evolving, complex systems. BII research engages in research motivated by real world problems found in these systems.

These large-scale, complex systems are continuously influencing one another, and for every question we ask about how a policy decision, a new agricultural technique, an energy source, or a group behavior might impact life on earth, the number of variables we consider in order to understand, predict and visualize reality is as massive as the number of stars in the universe.

Today, with computer systems that can store and process massive volumes of data, it is possible to unpack even the most complex phenomena at scale. Using sophisticated computer models, Biocomplexity researchers can simulate entire populations and use these tools to grasp how hundreds of systems influence one another.  The Biocomplexity Institute (the Institute) is organized to reflect the shape of these complex problems, set in the context of both traditional and non-traditional sponsors.

Since September 2018, the Biocomplexity Institute has accomplished the task of establishing a comprehensive and novel research organization that complements, supports, and extends the University’s research mission as outlined in the Strategic Plan for 2030.  The Institute is organized to anticipate, recognize and respond to new and existing challenges embodied in some of the most complex problems facing society today: Resiliency, Disasters, and Sustainability; Innovations in the 2030 Census, a Curated Data Enterprise (CDE); Alert Systems for Pathogen Mutations; and Pandemic Planning and Response, providing insights into contagion science by developing advanced computing, modeling, simulation tools and capabilities.

To date, the Institute has grown to 134 research and tenured faculty (32), professional research staff and post-doctoral associates (30), graduate and undergraduate students (39) and executive and administrative staff (33). The Institute has received more than 135 awards totaling over $60.25 million, and published over 509 articles, pre-prints, book chapters and technical reports.  By all accounts, the Institute has successfully established our presence, developed novel programs atypical of traditional academic organizational structures, and demonstrated value to the university, our sponsors and our students. Although the range and scope of the work and our scientists is broad, both need to be increased and broadened to ensure a sustainable research position.

Planning forward for the next 5-year period of FY 2023-2027, the Institute will turn its attention to solidifying its future within the UVA academic and research community by pursuing significant major gifts, grants and contracts, federal and state support that will define the future of the Institute as an adaptive research organization in a rapidly evolving world.  Associated growth poses challenges that we must meet.

Backed by federal investments of over $350M over the last 30 years, Biocomplexity uses transdisciplinary team science to study complex systems, bringing a fundamentally new capability to the University. Thanks to the University’s SIF investment, which began in 2018, UVA has further developed this capability, and it is now a recognized global leader in network science, high-performance computing, pandemic science, and AI for national security. UVA is also now the leader in using AI and HPC to study national-scale socio-technical systems. Biocomplexity’s R&D complements, supports, and extends the University’s research mission as outlined in the Strategic Plan for 2030.

The societal impact of the work is well documented and includes over 350 publications, including those in top-tier journals. Biocomplexity was the lead analytical group supporting our Commonwealth, DTRA, and CDC in their pandemic response efforts – our work received letters of commendation from these agencies. This work saved the state over $60- 100M in addition to saving lives. Biocomplexity team members are recognized in their fields including Sallie Keller who is currently the chief scientist at the Census, and who was elected to the NAE; Madhav Marathe is an elected fellow of ACM, SIAM, AAAS, and IEEE and elected to VASEM; Chris Barrett was elected to VASEM, Catherine Woteki is an elected member of the NAM and until recently served as a member of PCAST, and Richard Stearns is the winner of the ACM Turing award (Nobel prize in Computing equivalent).

Through seven years of SIF support, the Institute has received 148 external awards totaling over $86.5M, and 11 additional awards totaling $5.6M in grants and contracts revenue through internal partnerships. Active and recently completed projects with NIH, CDC, DoD, US Census Bureau, USDA, NSF, and NASA include developing a molecular alert system for pathogen mutation, supporting 2030 Census efforts, exploring contagion science through an NSF Expeditions grant, developing AI-enabled solutions for problems in Agricultural science, studying the societal impact of climate change, and evaluating National Security problems on disasters, migration, and climate change.

The Biocomplexity Institute remains committed to serving the University and the public by sharing our data, decision- support tools, and research, and developing innovative (non-degree) educational programs. As part of that commitment, we will continue to educate the next generation of policymakers, scholars, and scientists through immersive experiential learning summer internship programs such as Data Science for the Public Good (DSPG) and Computing for Global Challenges (C4GC).