[CSEE-colloq] talk: Interactive visual computing for knowledge discovery, 1pm Wed 3/7, UMBC

[Tim Finin]

          Interactive visual computing for knowledge discovery
                  in science, engineering and training

                             Dr. Jian Chen
                   University of Southern Mississippi

            1:00pm Wednesday, March 7, 2012, ITE 325b, UMBC

Advances in simulations and lab experiments are producing huge
datasets at unprecedented rates, and deriving meanings from these data
will have far-reaching impacts on our lives in many areas of science,
engineering, and medicine.  Visualization and interactive computing
provide great tools for exploiting these data in scientific discovery
and engineering innovations. A limiting factor in the scientific use
of visualization tools is the lack of guiding principles to identify
and assess visualization methods that are helpful in scientific
tasks. In this talk, I present research designed to advance knowledge
discovery through the design and evaluation of interactive
visualizations. Experiments on image illumination and density are
described that successfully address this limitation in brain imaging
for medical diagnoses. I also present the theoretical foundations that
have led to the various choices in visualization design. In the second
part of the talk, I argue that most existing tools designed for
scientific discovery fail to address the dynamic nature of the
discovery workflow. I present a new visualization tool, VisBubbles,
that integrates programming, visualization, and interaction in one
environment to create fluid workflows in which new hypotheses can be
tested efficiently. VisBubbles augments interactive computing and
analysis of time-varying motion data of bat flights by enabling
dynamic displays, thus facilitating scientists' quest for new
knowledge. I present the design methods we have followed in our
long-term collaboration with biologists and engineering scientists on
motion analysis. Finally, I present future work I envision in
interactive visualization that will be critical in developing future
visualization tools for science, engineering, and training.

Jian Chen (http://bit.ly/JCHEN) is an assistant professor in the
School of Computing at the University of Southern Mississippi. She is
the founder and director of Interactive Visual Computing Lab
(http://ivcl.cs.usm.edu).  Her research is in the broad area of
interaction and visualization, with current focuses on the emerging
field of scientific visualization theory and workflow analysis. She
has published numerous articles in top journals and international
conferences. Her panel on combining human-centered computing and
scientific visualization received honorable mention at the 2007 IEEE
Visualization Conference. She was a postdoc at Brown University with
Drs. David H. Laidlaw (CS) and Sharon Swartz (BioMed) from 2006 to
2009. She has a Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from Virginia Tech
and Master’s degrees in both Computer Science and Mechanical
Engineering. Her research has been funded by DHS and NSF.

Host: Penny Rheingans
See http://csee.umbc.edu/talks for more information