System Dynamics Specialization
This specialization prepares students to unpack complex social challenges, identify high-impact interventions; and prototype organizational and policy solutions.
The Brown School is unique in our tradition of engaging communities in St. Louis and around the world in the practice of using system dynamics to pursue community empowerment and mobilization.
Students in the System Dynamics specialization learn to design and facilitate participatory workshops to map systems based on community knowledge and experience; apply qualitative and mathematical modeling tools to identify high-impact interventions; and prototype organizational and policy solutions. System Dynamics courses partner with community-based organizations and researchers to provide students with applied, real-world experiences of using system dynamics in community practice.
Our graduates are prepared to tackle dynamic social problems with innovative, design-drive, transdisciplinary solutions. Alumni seek high-impact positions in consulting, government, research, evaluation and the use of systems thinking in clinical and community development practice.
Specialization Requirements: 9 Credits
- One of the following one-credit courses:
- System Dynamics Applied Practice I: Designing Responsive Community Based System Dynamics Approaches (1 credit)
- Introduction to System Dynamics for Advancing Equity (1 credit)
- Community Based System Dynamics (3 credits)
- System Dynamics Modeling for Strategic Design
(3 credits) - System Dynamics Applied Practice II: Simulation Model Translation and Adaptation (1 credit)
- System Dynamics Applied Practice III: Developing Interactive Model Interfaces (1 credit)
Practicum
The System Dynamics specialization requires 120 hours of related activities during the concentration practicum, which can be completed at any concentration practicum site. Students develop practicum projects in consultation with the specialization chair. Past practicum projects have included:
- Informing a strategy for parent engagement using group model building and SD Simulation with the Early Learning Partnership at East Side Aligned.
- Developing strategic simulation models to inform community organizing strategy around housing with the St. Louis Regional Response Team.
- Designing group model building workshops and leading key informant interviews on structural barriers to migrant farmworker health on Maryland’s Eastern Shore with the RESPIRAR Project.
Additional Resources
The Brown School’s Social System Design Lab (SSDL) is a leader in advancing the science and practice of system dynamics with communities in pursuit of human thriving. The SSDL convenes community practitioners and researchers around the world who use community based system dynamics in their work to push the boundaries of system dynamics practice. In addition, more than a dozen faculty members throughout the Brown School and Washington University use or support system dynamics in their social work and public health research.
Specialization Chair
Ellis Ballard an assistant professor of practice and the director of the Social System Design Lab. Ballard’s work advances participatory approaches to system dynamics modeling with communities to advance health access and social justice. He maintains an active consulting practice, working with community organizations, foundations, development banks, research teams, and corporations to build capabilities to develop system dynamics models for organizational strategy, research design, and advocacy.
Featured Graduate
“The system dynamics specialization equipped me with tools and skills to navigate the complexity of lived experience in the pursuit of systemic change. My experience in the classroom and practicum has led me to work across organizations and communities transforming a diversity of complex social problems–from HIV care in St. Louis to mental health support in the United Kingdom.”
—Megan Keenan, MSW’21, Dartington Service Design Lab