PI2 will be one of the most advanced visualization facilities of its kind in the mid-Atlantic region. The team sees it as enabling new research efforts on the visual exploration of data and knowledge discovery for biology, math, engineering, visual arts, and digital humanities as well as a tool to study and enhance the potential of the medium itself.
The instrument will feature a curved wall with a 27M pixel resolution made from multi-column, thin-bezel, and stereo-capable LCD panels with a six degree-of-freedom tracking system. The system will integrate and leverage many important characteristics: immersion, hybrid reality, high resolution, large field of view, large space and size, body-centric human-computer interaction, and support for heterogeneous data fusion.
The short-term goal is to accelerate science and education by addressing complex data analysis tasks which may have at least three sources: (1) big data, (2) environments inaccessible or too dangerous for humans so that simulation is necessary, and (3) high-fidelity environments for engineering and human behavior studies.
PI2 is expected to become an integral and vital part of a long-term vision for complex data analysis at UMBC, in effect, a human-computer symbiosis in which humans guide computers to identify features of potential interest that the computer then locates and displays. Developing this vision requires advances in multiple areas, including semi-automatic feature detection, visual representations, and interaction, where traditional display modalities limit what can be displayed and perceived. The instrument will facilitate broad interdisciplinary research and provides an innovative teaching and research environment for a diverse student population. Expectations include:
PI2 will integrate advances in natural language processing, wearable computing, visualization, data mining, and interaction and its ability to synthesize, capture, create, and analyze visual information in unprecedented detail will transform the way analysts interact with visual information. Its capabilities will benefit multiple research areas at UMBC, including brain connectome, woodland ecology, interpersonal experiences, biomedicine, universal access, engineering physics, simulations, systems biology, education, digital humanities, green technologies, and unmanned-vehicle studies.
For more information, contact Dr. Jian Chen.
In October, UMBC will host the 2015 national conference of Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life, where scholars, artists, designers, cultural workers and community activists will gather to advance the public and civic purposes of arts, humanities, and design. Imagining America (IA) serves as a source for information and ideas in support of engaged undergraduate and graduate pedagogies, public scholarship, and university-change initiatives helpful to administrators, faculty, staff, and students who are seeking to strengthen or initiate campus examination of and involvement with real-world issues.
UMBC had been selected as the host of the 2015 national conference six months before the nation turned its attention to Baltimore in April... (continue reading)
]]>We are proud to announce the projects awarded grants in the spring 2015 round of the Hrabowski Fund for Innovation competition.
ADAPTATION AWARDS
Explore Baltimore Heritage: A Partnership Between Baltimore Heritage and UMBC – A team led by Denise Meringolo, Associate Professor of History, will expand UMBC’s partnership with Baltimore Heritage through supporting the organization’s goals of developing educational material, while also deepening UMBC students’ learning experience and professional development. Specifically, this collaboration will grant students in the History program the opportunity to build meaningful historical content for Explore Baltimore Heritage, a mobile app that lets people build self-guided tours of the many unique historic places of Baltimore and its neighborhoods.
IMPLEMENTATION AND RESEARCH GRANT
Learning and Innovation at the Interface of Mathematics and Medicine: A NEW Approach – A team led by Bradford Peercy, Associate Professor of Mathematics and Statistics, has proposed the Neuromathematical Experience Workgroup (NEW), a new approach to training students on the interface of mathematics and neurosciences that focuses on interdisciplinary, team-based experiences. The fundamental change in the nature of biological research toward quantitative sciences has identified a need for collaboration with biology and mathematics and statistics. Through the new project both undergraduate and graduate students will develop core skills and tools required in mathematics and neuroscience to form a common foundation that will prepare them for future careers in neuroscience and as research and teaching faculty.
NEXT at UMBC: Researching Connections Between Applied Learning, Affective Learning, and Student Success – A team led by Hannah Schmitz, Applied Learning Program Coordinator for the Shriver Center, is developing a program to investigate the interconnection between applied learning and student affective development. This analysis will set us on a path to generating metrics to help assess the contribution of applied learning experiences, such as internships, research, study abroad, and service-learning to our students’ academic, social, professional, and civic development.
SEED GRANT
Connections: A Transfer Student Experience Course – A team led by Diane Alonso, Director of Psychology at Shady Grove, will create a transfer student experience course that uses the principles of Interprofessional Education (IPE) to bring students from different disciplines together in a technology-rich active learning environment and challenge them to think beyond their physical and mental boundaries. This innovative course is based on our First-Year Experience program and will be integral in helping transfer students at UMBC at Shady Grove learn and grow as students and professionals.
Proposals for the next round of Innovation Fund grants are due by October 16, 2015. Please consider submitting an application. For more information about the fund, visit innovationfund.umbc.edu.
The Hrabowski Fund for Innovation, developed with support of major grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Heinz Awards, is a testament to our strong track record of finding novel approaches to teaching and scholarship. The Fund exemplifies our commitment to being a leading public university through investment in faculty initiatives that fuel creativity and enterprise and challenge students to take an active role in their education.
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