Joffa Applegate

Assistant Research Professor,

School of Complex Adaptive Systems

Other ASU affiliations

Affiliated Faculty, Center for Behavior, Institutions and the Environment (CBIE)

Complex Systems Research Group

Complexity Economics Lab

Biosocial Complexity Initiative

Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity (CSDC)

Senior Global Futures Scientist, Global Futures Scientists and Scholars

jma@asu.edu

Engineering Center - A Building (ECA) 1031 S. Palm Walk A129 Tempe, AZ 85281-2701
Mail code: 2701

Campus: Tempe
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Long Bio

Joffa M. Applegate is an Assistant Research Professor at Arizona State University, and a member of the Complex Systems Research Group, Policy Informatics at The Decision Theatre and The Global Climate Forum. She holds a master’s degree in Physics and a doctorate in Applied Mathematics for Life and Social Sciences with a concentration in Complex Adaptive Systems Sciences from ASU. Her areas of expertise are complexity economics and complex systems modeling, including multi-agent, dynamical and network modeling.

Education

Ph.D. Applied Mathematics for Life and Social Sciences with Concentration in Complex Adaptive Systems

Dissertation: “Complexity Studies of Firm Dynamics”

Arizona State University, 2018

M.S. Physics

Thesis: “A Study of Isospin Symmetry Breaking in 12C with 50 MeV Pions”

Arizona State University, 1992

B.S. Physics, English minor

North Carolina State University, 1990

Curriculum Vitae

Research Interests

Dr. Applegate’s research interests are an interdisciplinary mix of firm dynamics, labor and financial economics, political economy and institutional analysis, all of which together falls under the umbrella of complexity economics. She is particularly interested in the wage-finance nexus, and how individuals’ access to capital either restricts or supports their productivity and how monetary capital actually flows through an economic system. Her work is based in the perspective that an economy can be meaningfully described as an ecosystem, and as such can be described by fundamental principles that can apply across multiple institutional contexts.

Research Group

Complex Systems Research Group

Publications

Wellman, N., Applegate, J. M., Harlow, J., & Johnston, E. W. “Beyond the Pyramid: Alternative Forms of Formal Hierarchical Differentiation and Team Performance.” Academy of Management Journal, July 2019.

Applegate, J (2018, July 13).“Emergent Firms Model” (Version 1.0.0). CoMSES Computational Model Library. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.25937/6t61-qm82.

Applegate, J, Wellman, Ned (2017, December 21). “Empathy and Power” (Version 1.1.0). CoMSES Computational Model Library.

Retrieved from: https://www.comses.net/codebases/5863/releases/1.1.0/.

Applegate, J, Hoetker, Glenn (2017, December 21). “Strategy with Externalities” (Version 1.0.0). CoMSES Computational Model Library.

Retrieved from: https://www.comses.net/codebases/5196/releases/1.0.0/.

“Low-energy pion scattering to 1- states in 12C”, Kormanyos, C. M. ; Peterson, R. J. ; Applegate, J. et al, Physical Review C (Nuclear Physics), Volume 48, July 1993, pp.250-255

“Systematics of the double isobaric analog state cross section at 50 MeV”, Ward, H. ; Applegate, J. M. et al, Physical Review C (Nuclear Physics), Volume 47, February 1993, pp.687-692

Research Activity

Complexity Economics: Development of a library of connectable multi-agent models exploring fundamental economic dynamics such as banking and financial flows, economic growth, market dynamics, and labor, wage and firm dynamics. These models are formulated independent of institutional context such that future scenarios consisting of alternative institutional arrangements could be explored. Iterative process with data discovery and design.

Urban Ecology: Application of ecological concepts such as feedback loops, expansion and extended evolutionary development urban systems, with the goal of discovering and validating complex and empirically based dynamics and measures, applied to both modern industrial economies as well as medieval pre-industrial economies.

Policy Informatics: Mathematical modeling design and implementation support for iterative multiple community and policy making organizations around topics such as educational attainment and utility, housing and homeless support.

Courses

2025 Spring

Course Number	Course Title
CAS 543	Complexity Economics
CAS 543	Complexity Economics
CAS 593	Applied Project
CAS 593	Applied Project

2024 Spring

Course Number	Course Title
CAS 543	Complexity Economics

Expertise Areas

Community Partnerships

Complex Systems

Economics

Experimental Economic Methods

Urban Systems