Stefan Salome

“All models are wrong, but some are useful.” This one-liner from statistician George Box roughly describes my contribution to Copernicos. Modeling and simulation (M&S) has proven its value in assisting policymakers over the past 50 years. M&S helps provide insight into the dynamics of a system and is useful for testing policies. In some cases, however, these types of models are misused by decision-makers. In these cases, the model is seen as a “holy grail” for justifying policy choices. This emphasizes the significant responsibility of M&S engineers to clearly communicate the purpose of a model, which inherently implies that a model also has limitations in its use. My primary task at Copernicos is therefore the custom development, validation, and deployment of simulation models in the asset management domain.

Stefan is an external PhD candidate at Delft University of Technology and officially employed by Copernicos. His research focuses primarily on developing simulation models at various levels of detail. Also known in the scientific world as “multi-resolution modeling.” This is important because strategic, tactical, and operational issues often require different levels of modeling, yet must be aligned. The research cases are provided by Copernicos. Stefan’s ambition at Copernicos is to improve his analytical and technical skills, as well as to manage different interests, values, and beliefs in the public administration arena.