Dr. Paul M. Torrens is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geographical Sciences at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is also Director of the Geosimulation Research Laboratory. His work is focused on Geographic Information Science and development of geosimulation and geocomputation tools, modeling behavioral geography, modeling complex urban systems, and studying new emerging cyberspaces.

Paul additionally serves as Director of Geosimulation Labs, LLC, a research and development consultancy.

Paul holds a Ph.D. from University College London (2004), Master’s degrees from Trinity College Dublin (1999) and Indiana University (1998), and a Bachelor’s degree from Trinity College Dublin (1996). Paul has been an invited speaker at universities worldwide, from the University of Copenhagen and Trinity College Dublin to MIT, Cornell, and the University of Pennsylvania. He has given invited lectures and seminars to industry groups as diverse as the Institute for the Future, Microsoft, and France Telecom Orange. Paul has also presented invited talks at major technology conferences, from O'Reilly's Emerging Technology Conference to Where 2.0. His research has been featured in the popular press in 14 countries and his work has been covered in a diverse array of outlets, from Vanity Fair and Il Corriere della Sera to Forbes and Discover Magazine. He is a member of the Editorial Boards of the Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Future Internet, Lecture Notes in Mechanics, Geojournal, International Journal of Society Systems Science, the International Journal of Microsimulation, and Wireless Engineering and Technology. He also serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for Savannah Simulations in Geneva, Switzerland. His projects have been supported by the U.K. Economic and Social Research Council, the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Herberger Foundation, Science Foundation Arizona, Autodesk, Inc., and Alias Research.

His work earned him a Faculty Early Career Development Award from the U.S. National Science Foundation in 2007 and he was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers by President George W. Bush in 2008. The Presidential Early Career Award is the highest honor that the U.S. government bestows upon young scientists; Torrens is the first geographer to receive the Award.

Dynamic physics for built infrastructure

Moving agents through space and time

Modeling riots

Validating agent-based models

Machine-learning behavioral geography

Accelerating agent-based models

Megacity futures

Immersive modeling

Space-time GIS and analysis

A toolkit for measuring sprawl

Modeling time, space, and behavior

Simulating crowd behavior