MultiSector Dynamics

About Us

About us

We are a multi-disciplinary collective of researchers based at universities and national labs across the United States. Our community of practice is made up of junior and senior natural and social scientists, engineers, economists, and other researchers working at the interface of human and natural systems.

The following mission statement, themes and science questions, and community development process are meant as starting points for the MultiSector Dynamics (MSD) community and will continuously evolve and be formally developed into an upcoming white paper.

Mission Statement

Our mission is to help establish a community of practice of MultiSector Dynamics (MSD) researchers in the United States and internationally.

The MSD community aims to improve our understanding of the co-evolution of human and natural systems over time, and build the next generation of tools that bridge across sectors (energy, water, land, economy) and scales (spatial, temporal), and offer a holistic view of systems-of-systems.

Using these tools we aim to identify and illuminate how key processes act across the multiple scales that shape the complex interactions and multidirectional feedbacks among human and Earth systems.

Community Development Process

The MSD community’s mission and focus is coalescing rapidly from insights generated by the participating members of the research community. In the coming year, members of the Community will have opportunities to work together to continue evolving our mission, themes, science questions, and synergistic activities. 

Funding Acknowledgement
The Facilitation Team thanks the DOE Office of Science, Earth and Environmental System Modeling, MultiSector Dynamics program area for financial support of its activities through the Integrated Multisector Multiscale Modeling (IM3) project. For more information related to the broader DOE MultiSector Dynamics Program please see https://climatemodeling.science.energy.gov/program-area/multisector-dynamics.

MSD Working Groups

Connecting MSD Research to Operations

Welcome to the MSD Working Group on Connecting Research to Operations About Our vision is to elevate the visibility and amplify the societal impact of scientific advances emerging from the MSD Community of Practice, both within the United States and internationally. This Working Group aims to further the R2O2R (‘research-to-operations-to-research’)…

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Working Group – Human Systems Modeling

Welcome to the MSD Working Group on Human Systems Modeling The Human Systems Modeling working group explores state of the art modeling methods that can improve representation of human decision making and adaptation in multi-sector systems, drawing from advances in economics, social sciences, computer science, and statistics. We investigate a…

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Working Group – Multisector Impacts of Energy Transitions

This Working Group will identify what feedbacks, sectors, and societal constructs are missing from existing analytical approaches and define new research pathways towards a more holistic understanding of the multisector impacts of energy transitions.

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Working Group – Professional Development and Education for Early Career Scientists

Welcome to the MSD Working Group on Professional Development and Education for Early Career Scientists As the MSD community is formed and begins to grow, this Working Group will seek to expand participation among a diverse group of early career scientists, provide professional development opportunities to graduate students and post-docs,…

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Working Group – Uncertainty Quantification and Scenario Development

Welcome to the MSD Working Group on Uncertainty Quantification and Scenario Development The Uncertainty Quantification and Scenario Development working group studies the propagation of uncertainties, including deep uncertainties, through multi-sector systems. We are interested in understanding how uncertainty interacts with complex system dynamics and cross-sectoral feedback mechanisms to affect the…

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Urban Systems Working Group

Welcome to the MSD Working Group on Urban systems About Our vision is to integrate individual and aggregate human activity with earth system processes at different scales. Cities are a key focal point for addressing questions related to system dependencies, tipping points, and uncertainties. Cities are also a fruitful context…

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