Andries van
Dam
Brown
University
Immersive Virtual
Reality
in
Scientific
Visualization
Abstract: Visualization
leverages
the
massively
parallel
computer
that
is
the
human
visual
system,
enabling
users
to
see
and
understand
features,
patterns,
trends,
and
anomalies
in
data.
It
is
an
important,
but
often
underappreciated
(and
underutilized)
aspect
of
computational
simulation.
This
talk
focuses
on
the
applications
of
visualization
in
Immersive
Virtual
Reality
(IVR),
particularly
our
four-walled
8x8
foot
Cave.
The Cave provides the user with wide field of view, head-tracked stereo to create the illusion of being immersed in a data set or model, whose size can range from nanoscale to cosmic. Body-centric interaction using a variety of input devices enable a far more compelling desktop display with a standard WIMP GUI. Our scientists tell us that they see phenomena more rapidly and more clearly than had been possible before; some assert that they were able to gain new insights that they couldn't have obtained with conventional displays. We are buttressing such anecdotal evidence with controlled user studies.
I will show examples (via monoscopic video) from Brown research in several different scientific areas, including modeling of blood flow through arterial bypass grafts, exploration of the Martian polar ice cap, and biological volume rendering. Finally, I will list some of the research problems in interactive scientific visualization that are common to many of the application domains.
Biography: Andries van Dam is Brown University's Vice President for Research and the Thomas J. Watson Jr. Professor of Technology and Education and Professor of Computer Science. He has been a member of Brown's faculty since 1965, is a founder of Brown's Computer Science Department, and was its first Chairman, from 1979 to 1985. His research includes work on computer graphics, hypermedia systems, post-WIMP user interfaces, including pen-centric computing, and educational software. He has been working for nearly four decades on systems for creating and reading electronic books with interactive illustrations for use in teaching and research.
He is the co-author of nearly a dozen books including, Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice, with James D. Foley, Steven K. Feiner, and John F. Hughes (Addison-Wesley 1990). He received a BS degree, with honours, in Engineering Sciences from Swarthmore College in 1960 and PhD (1966) from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Fellow of Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), IEEE, and AAAS, is a member of National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, has won a number of awards including the ACM SIGGRAPH Steven A. Coons Award for Education Medal, and holds honorary doctorates from Swarthmore College and Darmstadt Technical University.