Peter Hovmand, PhD, MSW
Director - phovmand@wustl.edu
Dr. Peter Hovmand is the Founding Director of the Social System Design Lab at the Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis where he uses system dynamics to understand and evaluate community level interventions. He has a background in electrical engineering, mathematics, and philosophy, and received his doctorate in social work and community psychology from Michigan State University. His research focuses on developing and using participatory group model building (GMB) techniques to involve community members in the creation of models to understand the role of social determinants of health, scale-up of health innovations, and the design of community prevention strategies. Application areas include childhood obesity, K-12 education, mental health, domestic violence, child welfare, and household economic security. Other interests include ordinary language philosophy, philosophy of mathematics, epistemology of social science, and feminist theory. He advises students interested in learning and applying system dynamics and systems thinking, and co-teaches a joint social work-engineering course with Dr. O’Sullivan, “A System Dynamics Approach to Designing Sustainable Social Policies and Programs.”
Timothy Hower, MS
Associate Director - thower@gwbmail.wustl.edu
Timothy has worked with System Dynamics for over ten years in multiple fields. He has a background in business operations, including manufacturing, healthcare, and service industries. At Los Alamos Natiional Laboratory, Timothy designed health and safety programs and worked internationally in the areas of counter proliferation, nuclear dismantlement, and risk and emergency management. Formerly a Certified Industrial Hygienist, he has 25 years experience in occupational safety and health, management consulting, public health, and leadership of transdiciplinary teams in the public and private sectors.Timothy is involved with all of the Lab's projects, including links between obesity and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, Evaluation of Healthy Kids, Healthy Community partnerships, and the social determinants of childhood obesity. He is also part of the instruction team for the fall System Dynamics course and the spring Group Model Building course. Outside of the lab, Timothy practices and teaches Aikido, a non-violent martial art, and also enjoys hiking and photography.
Alison Kraus, MSW
Program Coordinator - akraus@brownschool.wustl.edu
Alison currently serves as the Program Coordinator at the SSDL. Alison works with all of the ongoing projects in the Lab. Coming from a clinical social work background, Alison is particularly interested in the application of systems dynamics principles to mental health service delivery systems and other public health issues. Alison holds a BA in Psychology with a Minor in Political Science and a Master of Social Work from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work. In her free time, Alison enjoys spending time with her rescue dog, cooking, baking and going to concerts.
Nishesh Chalise , Doctoral Candidate
Research Associate - nchalise@wustl.edu
Nishesh is working as a research assistant in the SSDL. He is currently a doctoral student at the Brown School of Social Work, and interested in Human and Natural systems along with Sustainable Development. He is working on Implementation of Evidence Based Practices (NSF IOP), which used qualitative data to build dynamic social theory and models to solve problems. Nishesh plans to continue conducting research in the field of Coupled Human and Natural Systems and creating system dynamic models of these complex interactions. He holds a BS in Environmental Science and taught for two years in Nepal before coming to the Brown School. Nishesh’s outside hobbies include biking, eating, gardening, and spending time with his wife and dogs.
Jill Kuhlberg, MSW, Doctoral Candidate
Research Assistant - jkuhlberg@wustl.edu
Jill is currently a doctoral student in the Brown School of Social Work. Her background includes studying Latin American Studies and Latin at the University of California, San Diego along with being a bilingual second grade teacher in Teach for America in Brownsville, Texas. After receiving her MSW from the Brown School and before joining the doctoral program, Jill worked at the Center for Latino Family Research here at WUSTL. Her experience within the SSDL has included serving as the teaching assistant for the system dynamics Winter Institute course in India. She is also becoming more involved in the West End childhood obesity project, as she hopes to do similar work with communities on the U.S.-Mexico border for her dissertation. Aside from school and the lab, Jill helps run the Systems Science Journal Club, and she loves to dance!
Lin Shao, MSW Candidate
Research Assistant - lin.shao@wustl.edu
Lin is specialized in research and has a concentration in Community Health and Mental Health. She previously graduated with a master’s degree in Economics from Arizona State University in 2007. Following that, she worked as a programmer analyst at Yale University, where she co-authored several peer-reviewed journal articles on women’s mental health. She joined the lab in Fall 2011, and is currently working on Healthy Kids Healthy Communities (HKHC), which strives to implement healthy eating and active lifestyles through system, policy, and environmental change. She will be applying Configural Frequency Analysis (CFA) to detect and assess deviance in behavioral patterns. Lin also enjoys reading memoirs, jogging, cooking, and making teas for families and friends.
Rachele Vierthaler, MSW Candidate
Research Assistant - vierthaler@wustl.edu
Rachele is currently an MSW student focusing on Community and Youth Development with a specialization in Management. She is currently working on the West End Childhood Obesity Project, and helps to improve on the Design Booklet for this project. Outside the lab, Rachele enjoys taking her dog to the park, riding her bicycle, and baking.
- Kelsey Buchanan, MSW
- Amy Schneider, MSW '09
- Eric Stein, MSW '09
- Annaliese Calhoun, MSW '10
- Alison Deal, BS '10
- Sarah Fern, BS '11
- Andrew Frangos, BS '11
- Margaret Hower, MPH, MSW '11
- Colleen Kinneen, MSW '11
- Dan Conner, MS, MBA '12
- Ethan Park, MSW, MBA '12
- Angela Swensen, MSW '12
- Ravikumar Chockalingam, MD
- Meagan Colvin, MSW '12
- Allison Betley, BS '12
- Becca Gluckstein, MSW Candidate
- Alissa Nelson, MSW/MPH Candidate