Research and Publications

MAGICS Research Areas

Design and Governance of Sociotechnical Systems

We study methods to integrate top-down intervention with bottom-up behavioral responses (human and AI agents) in sociotechnical systems. We also build frameworks that merge the design and goverannce of complex engineering systems

Multi-Agent Human-AI Systems

We study the dynamic of beheaivor in multi-agent AI and human systems in mixed cooperation and competition situations. We use AI as proxy for social behavior; also explore model the strategic behavior of LLM and RL agents.

Computational Methods for Policy Design

We build cuasal statistical and simulation model for scenario analysis in complex sociotechnical systems (healthcare, platform marketplaces, urban infrastructures) to quantify the effect of various inteventions and policies.

AI in Systems Engineering

We integrate AI in Systems Engineering in three ways: Studying the effect of AI integration in the system using causal inference; Use AI agents to create adaptive system governance methods; and use GenAI agents (LLMs) to create digital twins of complex sociotechnical systems.

Selected Recent Peer-Reviewed Publications

Maddah, Negin, and Babak Heydari. "Building back better: Modeling decentralized recovery in sociotechnical systems using strategic network dynamics." Reliability Engineering & System Safety 246 (2024): 110085. [IF=9.4]
Padhee, Soumyakant, and Babak Heydari. "The Echo Chambers of Complexity: How Task Complexity Influences Team Groupthink and Individual Exploration." Available at SSRN 4892421 (2024).
Maddah, Negin, and Babak Heydari. "Platform-Driven Collaboration Patterns: Structural Evolution Over Time and Scale." arXiv preprint arXiv:2402.12686 (2024).
Chen, Qiliang, and Babak Heydari. "The SoS conductor: Orchestrating resources with iterative agent‐based reinforcement learning." Systems Engineering (2024).
Lorè, Nunzio, and Babak Heydari. "Strategic behavior of large language models: Game structure vs. contextual framing." arXiv preprint arXiv:2309.05898 (2023).
Padhee, Soumyakant, Nunzio Lore, and Babak Heydari. "Design teams and industry life cycles: The interplay of innovation and complexity." Systems Engineering 26.5 (2023): 604-617.
Chen, Qiliang, and Babak Heydari. "Dynamic Resource Allocation in Systems-of-Systems Using a Heuristic-Based Interpretable Deep Reinforcement Learning." Journal of Mechanical Design 144.9 (2022): 091711.
Heydari, Babak, and Paulien Herder. "Technical and Social Complexity." Handbook of Engineering Systems Design. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2021. 1-30.
Ristea, Alina, et al. "A multisource database tracking the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the communities of Boston, MA, USA." Scientific Data 9.1 (2022): 1-13.
Chen, Qiliang, Babak Heydari, and Mohsen Moghaddam. "Leveraging Task Modularity in Reinforcement Learning for Adaptable Industry 4.0 Automation." Journal of Mechanical Design (2021): 1-35.
Abouk, Rahi, and Babak Heydari. "The Immediate Effect of COVID-19 Policies on Social-Distancing Behavior in the United States." Public Health Reports (2021).
Ke, Laiyang, Dan O'Brien, and Babak Heydari. "Airbnb and Neighborhood Crime: The Incursion of Tourists or the Erosion of Local Social Dynamics?." Available at SSRN 3725823 (2020).

Heydari, Babak, Pedram Heydari, and Mohsen Mosleh. "Not all bridges connect: integration in multi-community networks." The Journal of Mathematical Sociology 44.4 (2020): 199-220.

Siddiqi, Afreen, and Babak Heydari. "Equity and Fairness Norms in Sociotechnical Systems: Emerging Perspectives for Design." 2019 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS). IEEE, 2019.

Heydari, B., Szajnfarber, Z., Panchal, J., Cardin, M. A., Holtta-Otto, K., Kremer, G. E., & Chen, W. (2019). Analysis and design of sociotechnical systems. Journal of Mechanical Design, 141(11).

Ehsanfar, Abbas, and Babak Heydari. "An incentive-compatible scheme for electricity cooperatives: An axiomatic approach." IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid 9.2 (2018): 1416-1424.

Heydari, Babak, and Michael J. Pennock. "Guiding the behavior of sociotechnical systems: The role of agent‐based modeling." Systems Engineering 21.3 (2018): 210-226.
Gianetto, David A., Mohsen Mosleh, and Babak Heydari. "Dynamic structure of competition networks in affordable care act insurance market." IEEE Access 6 (2018): 12700-12709.
Chen, W., Heydari, B., Maier, A. M., & Panchal, J. H. (2018). Network-based modeling and analysis in design. Design Science, 4

Mosleh, Mohsen, and Babak Heydari. "Why Groups Show Different Fairness Norms? The Interaction Topology Might Explain." International Conference on Social Informatics. Springer, Cham, 2017.

Mosleh, Mohsen, and Babak Heydari. "Fair topologies: community structures and network hubs drive emergence of fairness norms." Scientific Reports 7.1 (2017): 1-9.

Mosleh, Mohsen, Kia Dalili, and Babak Heydari. "Distributed or monolithic? a computational architecture decision framework." IEEE Systems Journal 12.1 (2017): 125-136.

Heydari, Babak. "Resilience in Homogeneous Networks: A Strategic Network Formation Approach." 2017 IEEE International Conference on Software Quality, Reliability and Security Companion (QRS-C). IEEE, 201

Mosleh, Mohsen, Peter Ludlow, and Babak Heydari. "Distributed resource management in systems of systems: an architecture perspective." Systems Engineering 19.4 (2016): 362-374. [Systems Engineering Journal Best Paper Award of the Year]

Heydari, Babak, Mohsen Mosleh, and Kia Dalili. "From modular to distributed open architectures: A unified decision framework." Systems Engineering 19.3 (2016): 252-266.

Mosleh, Mohsen, Peter Ludlow, and Babak Heydari. "Resource allocation through network architecture in systems of systems: A complex networks framework." 2016 Annual IEEE Systems Conference (SysCon). IEEE, 2016.

Gianetto, David A., and Babak Heydari. "Sparse cliques trump scale-free networks in coordination and competition." Scientific reports 6.1 (2016): 1-11

Heydari, Babak, Mohsen Mosleh, and Kia Dalili. "Efficient network structures with separable heterogeneous connection costs." Economics Letters 134 (2015).

David Gianetto, Babak Heydari, "Network Modularity is essential for the evolution of cooperation under uncertainty", Nature Scientific Reports 5 (2015)

Babak Heydari, Mohsen Mosleh, Kia Dalili, "Efficient Network Structures with Separable Heterogeneous Connection Costs", Economics Letters, 134 (2015) pp. 82-85, arXiv:1504.06634

Babak Heydari, Kia Dalili, "Emergence of Modularity in System of Systems: Complex Networks in Heterogeneous Environments", IEEE Systems Journal, 9.1 (2015), pp.223-231

David Gianetto, Babak Heydari, "Catalysts of Cooperation in System of Systems: The Role of Diversity and Network Structure", IEEE Systems Journal, 9.1 (2015), pp.303-311.

David Gianetto, Babak Heydari, "ASSESSING FEDERAL INSURANCE EXCHANGE COMPETITION THROUGH NETWORK STRUCTURE PROPERTIES", Informs Healthcare 2015.

Wade, Jon, and Babak Heydari. "Complexity: Definition and reduction techniques." Proceedings of the Poster Workshop at the 2014 Complex Systems Design & Management International Conference. 2015

Abbas Ehsanfar, Babak Heydari, "Interactive Multi-Consumer Power Cooperatives with Learning and Axiomatic Cost and Risk Disaggregation", Workshops at the Twenty-Ninth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence. 2015

M. Mosleh, K. Dalili, B. Heydari, "Optimal Modularity for Fractionated Spacecraft: The Case of System F6", Procedia Computer Science 28 (2014), 164-170