About NetLogo

NetLogo is the world's most widely used agent-based modeling platform, designed with a "low threshold, high ceiling" philosophy (see below for an explanation of agent-based modeling). This means elementary school students can learn to create their first models, while the same platform powers cutting-edge research. NetLogo has been used in over 10,000 scientific publications (a partial list is here) and is used in thousands of classrooms around the globe.

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The NetLogo Center at Northwestern University

NetLogo is developed at the NetLogo Center at Northwestern University with a guiding vision of modeling literacy for all. The Center's mission is to empower students, educators, researchers, and policymakers to make sense of our complex world through computational modeling.

NetLogo was originally created by Uri Wilensky and developed at the Center for Connected Learning. Recently, the NetLogo Center was launched to ensure NetLogo's long-term sustainability with initial support from the National Science Foundation’s Pathways to Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE) program.

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Affiliated Centers and Institutes

The NetLogo Center collaborates with:

The Northwestern Institute On Complex Systems (NICO)

NICO's mission is to incubate innovative collaborations that leverage complexity, networks, and data science to address societal challenges. The Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO) was founded in 2004 with the goals of uncovering fundamental principles that govern complex systems in science, technology, and human behavior.

Visit the NICO website.

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What is Agent-Based Modeling?

Agent-based modeling (ABM) is a way to explore complex systems by programming many individual “agents” (people, cells, firms, animals, etc.) to follow simple rules. As agents interact, larger patterns—like traffic jams, epidemics, or market cycles—emerge. Below is a video showing three example agent-based models in NetLogo: