Next Generation Visualization Interfaces

Speaker:	Prof. Kwan-Liu Ma
		Department of Computer Science
		University of California, Davis

Title:		"Next Generation Visualization Interfaces"

Date:		Monday, 10 October 2005

Time:		4:00pm - 5:00pm

Venue:		Lecture Theatre F (near lift nos. 25/26)
		HKUST

Abstract:

Visualization transforms large quantities of, possibly multiple
dimensional, raw data into graphical representations that exploit the
high-bandwidth channel of the human visual system, leveraging the brain's
remarkable ability to detect patterns and draw inferences. It has become
an indispensable tool for many scientists and engineers. The process of
data visualization is inherently iterative. A good visualization comes
from experimenting with visualization and rendering parameters to bring
out the most relevant information in the data. This iterative process if
not carefully designed can be tedious and costly. In addition to improved
rendering software and hardware technologies, new interface technologies
have been designed to ease this process and thus reduce the cost of data
visualization.

In this talk I will introduce two such technologies. The first interface
design employs an intelligent system to assist in the process of
interactive volume classification and visualization. The intelligent
system makes possible the use of higher dimensional classifications for
complex segmentation tasks. In particular, it allows the user to focus on
the data content and features of interest, rather than conducting manual
tuning of multidimensional classification and rendering parameters. The
second interface design facilitates sharing and reuse of the various
information about data exploration to leverage the knowledge and
experience that scientists gain from visualizing their data. For types of
data visualization where the cost of producing images is high, and the
relationship between the rendering parameters and the image produced is
less than obvious, a visual representation of the exploration process can
make the process more efficient and effective. Such a visual
representation can be used as an interface to the data analysis and
visualization process to dramatically improve explorability and facilitate
collaboration.


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Biography:

Professor Ma received his PhD in computer science from the University of
Utah in 1993. During 1993-1999, he was with ICASE/NASA LaRC as a research
scientist. In 1999, he joined UC Davis. In the following year, Professor
Ma received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and
Engineers (PECASE) for his work in parallel visualization. In 2001, he
received the Schlumberger Foundation Technical Award for his work in large
data visualization.

Professor Ma's research spans the fields of visualization, computer
graphics, and high performance computing. His goal is to advance the state
of the art in data visualization technology. Professor Ma is a member of
IDAV (Institute for Data Analysis and Visualization). Currently, he is
leading research projects in parallel rendering, volume modeling and
visualization, artistically inspired illustrations, visual interface
designs, and information visualization. Three main efforts are NSF ITR
time-varying data visualization, DOE SciDAC visualizing accelerator
simulations, and NSF ITR network security visualization. He is the editor
of the VisFiles Column of the ACM SIGGRAPH's Computer Graphics Quarterly.