Nowadays we are living in the so-called Information Age, that is, an era in which virtually unlimited amounts of information are not only been measured, but also made readily accessible to researchers and users in general. Unprecedented amounts of data are being continuously collected from a vast range of sources such as the Internet, mobile phone networks, Social Network engines, GPS tracking systems, biological systems, etc. This data-rich reality calls for new approaches and techniques required for harvesting the information hidden in the available data collections, and devising new models that explain the underlying principles of the systems that generated the measurements in the first place.
My research interests and direction are focused on the analysis of vast data collections gathered from different human-driven activities and the formulation of models that elucidate the fundamental principles underlying the observed scenarios. More specifically, my research approach is based on statistical physics, which provides a powerful tool set with deep connections with graph theory and the ability to quantitatively characterize macroscopic phenomena in terms of the microscopic dynamics of the various systems. The ultimate goal of my research efforts can be briefly stated as pursuing the understanding of statistical laws in the context of technological applications rooted in human behavior analysis.
I have applied statistical physics tools into topics as Opinion Dynamics, Epidemics Spreading, Contact Networks of Mobile Agents, Social Network Analysis, and Human Mobility. These research efforts involved the devising of models based on the analysis of very large data sets such as electoral data, school friendship networks, sexual-contact networks, and mobile phone tracks.
