THEME: 50th anniversary of the field
DATES: July 29, 2007 – August 2, 2007
CONTRACT: We have a signed contract with the Seaport Hotel, Boston Massachusetts.
ROOM RATES: $145 for a double or single plus taxes and hotel fees.
SPECIAL CONSIDERATION: The Seaport is donating five complimentary double rooms for four nights each (20 room nights) for conference scholarship recipients. Additionally, the Seaport is donating a complimentary 2-night weekend stay to encourage early room reservations.
CONFERENCE TEAM: Program Co-chairs: John Sterman of MIT and Rogelio Oliva of Texas A&M; Conference Chair: Bob Eberlein of Ventana Systems; Workshop Chair: Jack Homer; Conference Manager: Roberta Spencer. In addition, others have agreed to play significant roles in organizing the conference and the program as well as to provide support and organization for specific events as needed.
SPECIAL EVENTS: We are in the process of establishing a 50th anniversary celebration committee with broad international representation to help coordinate the publication of the special issue of the System Dynamics Review and highlight other activities done in celebration of this anniversary around the globe. Details remain to be settled.
Gary Hirsch has written directly to two potential guest speakers. 1. Paul Epstein, MD, MPH (Associate Director, Epstein Center for Health and Global Environment, Harvard Medical School) is an expert on the human health effects of global warming and someone the Health Policy SIG thought would be a good speaker. Dr. Epstein indicated he is quite willing to speak at ISDC 2007, but was reluctant to make a firm commitment with the conference being more than a year away. 2. Medical anthropologist and physician Paul Farmer, MD, PhD (Faculty, Department of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School), founding director of the international health organization Partners In Health, and the subject of Pulitzer Prizewinner Tracy Kidder’s "Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World," has been contacted, without reply as of this date.