Joshua Thorp has a degree in Computer Science with a concentration in Mathematics from the Cornell University School of Engineering and seven years of practical experience in the field of complexity science and agent based modeling.
Since 2002 Joshua has been an independent consultant focusing on the agent based modeling domain and interactive scientific visualization. 2003 through 2005 found Joshua contracting to Los Alamos National Laboratory modeling social interaction networks of employees and divisions at LANL.
In the fall of 2005 Joshua began work with Lee D. Hoffer, Ph.D., MPE Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, modeling the street market of heroin along with RedfishGroup, based on ethnographic work completed by Dr. Hoffer.
Other RedfishGroup work included modeling traffic evacuation of Santa Fe during a simulated wildfire, evacuating a baseball stadium and subway station, and visualizing various data sets using an innovative form of "Agent-Based Data Visualization" techniques.
Between 2000 and 2002 he worked for BiosGroup. In addition to an internal QA and re-usable code repository effort, Joshua's project work included team writing an exploration and production business unit model for a large energy company in Houston and subsequently worked as technical lead on a project to automate the management of distributed data storage on a network with a data storage software company.
Starting at the age of 7, Joshua had an evolving interest in computing. In high school Joshua participated in the New Mexico Supercomputing Challenge with a project that focused on artificial life and genetic algorithms inspired by the work of Christopher Langton at the Santa Fe Institute. From that time on, he has been interested in distributed systems of interacting agents and other complex adaptive systems. Growing up on a small family farm near Cerrillos, N.M., Joshua has always been fascinated by the intersection of complex adaptive systems studies and the sustainable agriculture movement.