Dr. Paul M. Torrens is an Associate Professor in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University and Director of its Geosimulation Research Laboratory. His work is focused on Geographic Information Science and development of geosimulation and geocomputation tools, applied modeling of complex urban systems, and new emerging cyberspaces.

Paul is also an Affiliate in the University’s Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity, as well as the GeoDa Center for Geospatial Analysis and Computation. 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 13 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 Board of the International Journal of Microsimulation and he is a member of 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.

Megacity futures

Immersive modeling

Space-time GIS and analysis

A toolkit for measuring sprawl

Modeling time, space, and behavior

Simulating crowd behavior

Wi-Fi mapping and geography