The Annual Simulation Symposiumis the oldest continuously operating simulation symposium within the Society for Modeling and Simulation (SCS). 2016 marks the 48th ANSS anniversary. Since the first ANSS was conducted in 1968, this event has been a forum to exchange ideas, research results, and methods, techniques, and applications among simulation practitioners from industry, government, and academia. ANSS’16 will continue the tradition of presenting state-of-the-art papers, panels, and tutorials highlightening topics of interest for simulation practitioners and users. The topic list is therefore neither complete nor exclusive, but provides authors a guideline on topics of particular interest identified so far. The program committee welcomes additional ideas and invites everybody to engage our audience with new topics of general interest. We also welcome recommendations on panel topics as well as high-level invited speakers that can address these issues in an engaging style. We want to continue to be the hub for new ideas and applications thereof.