Horacio Samaniego has joined CICS (Center for Social Complexity) as an Research Associate. He holds a PhD in Biology from the University of New Mexico (2007) and a degree in Biology at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile (2000). He completed his postdoctoral studies in the Department of Computer Science at UNM and in the Center for Non Linear Studies at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He currently is a professor  in the Forestry and Natural Resources department at Universidad Austral de Chile, in Valdivia, and a Research Associate at Instituto de Sistemas Complejos de Valparaiso.

In his first publication while affiliated with CICS, Horacio and his co-authors discuss whether female hierarchy in a guanaco family group is based on prior attributes of high rank females (e.g., body size) or emerges as the result of intra-group social dynamics.

His research focus on understanding phenomena associated with the emergence of diversity. His work centers on describing and explaining the dynamics of complex systems, both in ecology and in urban systems (economic and social). The premise is that as we refine our understanding of how we acquire knowledge and in doing so we specialize, we can have a better basis for the development of practical tools for sustainable planning of ecological, economic and social differences between those who live.