Upcoming Conferences and Workshops
8th IEEE International Conference on eScience – Call for Papers
October 8-12, 2012 – Chicago, Illinois
Abstract submission (required) – July 4, 2012
Paper submission – July 11, 2012
Researchers in all disciplines are increasingly adopting digital tools, techniques and practices, often in communities and projects that span disciplines, laboratories, organizations, and national boundaries. The eScience 2012 conference is designed to bring together leadingmm international and interdisciplinary research communities, developers, and users of eScience applications and enabling IT technologies. The conference serves as a forum to present the results of the latest applications research and product/tool developments and to highlight related activities from around the world. Also, we are now entering the second decade of eScience and the 2012 conference gives an opportunity to take stock of what has been achieved so far and look forward to the challenges and opportunities the next decade will bring. A special emphasis of the 2012 conference is on advances in the application of technology in a particular discipline. Accordingly, significant advances in applications science and technology will be considered as important as the development of new technologies themselves. Further, contributions in educational activities under any of these disciplines are welcome. For more information, including submission guidelines and topics, please visit http://www.ci.uchicago.edu/escience2012/
2013 CoSN Annual Conference – Call for Papers
March 11-13 2013 – San Diego, California
Submission Deadline – July 16, 2012
The theme of this year’s conference is Audacious Leadership. Technology has a transformative impact on society and in many industry sectors, but change is happening more slowly in education. The time is now for bold and daring leaders to define a new vision, build 21st century learning environments and use technology as a transformative tool. All potential submitters must review the Call for Presentations Submission Guidelines to review the submission details surrounding the inclusion of the CoSN Framework of Essential Skills and the guiding focus questions for this year’s theme. These guidelines will help craft improved learning experiences for our conference audiences and are key factors in the submission grading process. For more information and submission guidelines, please visit http://www.cosn.org/Home/2013CFP/tabid/12969/Default.aspx?utm_source=june8cfphome&utm_medium=eblast&utm_campaign=cfp2013.
Upcoming XSEDE Conferences and Workshops
Register Today for XSEDE12!
Registration is now open for XSEDE12, the inaugural conference of the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) project, which is supported by the National Science Foundation. The conference runs July 16-20, 2012, at the InterContinental hotel, 505 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago. Among the exciting XSEDE12 speakers are Richard Tapia, mathematician, professor, diversity advocate, and 2011 recipient of the National Medal of Science. For more information, please visit the conference website https://www.xsede.org/xsede12.
Blue Waters and XSEDE Host Extreme Scaling Workshop
July 15-16, 2012 – Chicago, Illinois
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications' Blue Waters and Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) projects are hosting the sixth in a series of Extreme Scaling workshops. Petascale systems provide computational science teams with effective, scalable, sustained petascale computing platforms. Our community expects these systems to provide sustained petascale performance on a broad range of science and engineering applications and algorithms, from applications that are compute-intensive to those that are data- and memory-intensive. The workshop will address algorithmic and applications challenges and solutions in large-scale computing systems with limited memory and I/O bandwidth. The presentations and discussions are intended to assist the computational science and engineering community in making effective use of petascale through extreme-scale systems across the spectrum of local campus-scale to national systems. For more informationr, please visit https://www.xsede.org/web/xscale/home
News at 11:00: XSEDE Partners and Staff in the News
TACC and Landmarks Host Q&A With Computational Artist Ben Rubin
In April, the TACC/ACES Visualization Laboratory (VisLab) opened its doors to the public for a Q&A session with acclaimed computational artist, Ben Rubin. Co-hosted by the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) and Landmarks, the public art program of The University of Texas at Austin, the session preceded the unveiling of a permanent video projection designed for the façade of the UT Communication A (CMA) Building by Rubin's New York-based EAR Studio. The piece, entitled And That's The Way It Is, displays moving text from the archives of Walter Cronkite's nightly news broadcasts, along with ever-changing text from up-to-the-minute broadcasts by national and local television news outlets. Rubin and his collaborators, architect Michele Gorman, data artist Jer Thorp, and statistician Mark Hansen, employ text-mining algorithms, similar to those used by computational linguists, to select relevant snippets from the nightly news broadcasts and to animate them on the façade of the building. For more information and to view the session, please visit http://www.tacc.utexas.edu/news/feature-stories/2012/landmarks-ben-rubin.
Research Features from Across XSEDE and Campus Champion Partners
UCSD Seeks Citizen Scientists for Earth Shaking Science Project
Members of the public willing to help scientists capture key seismic data to improve scientific understanding of earthquakes, provide detailed information on how they shape Southern California and aid earthquake emergency response efforts. This call for help comes from members of the “Quake Catcher Network,” a collaborative project sponsored by the National Science Foundation in which earthquake scientists around Southern California enlist volunteers to deploy small, easy-to-install seismic sensors in their homes, offices and other locations that have a computer with Internet connectivity. The project is conducted by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, California Institute of Technology, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, University of Delaware and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Fore more information, please visit http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/features/citizen_scientists_sought_for_earth_shaking_science_project/.
University of California, Berkeley Hosts Forum on the Big Data Industry
Although "big data" has become a multibillion-dollar industry in less than 10 years, a lot of growth is still needed before the industry has proven standards. The big data industry also needs broad-based literacy, new kinds of management, better tools for reading the information, and privacy safeguards for corporate and personal information. Training people in how to take advantage of big data is another significant challenge. The University of California, Berkeley's iSchool recently hosted a forum on the big data industry and how these hurdles will be overcome in the future. For example, Cloudera says it is currently training 1,500 users a month on how to use the Hadoop database and associated applications. The wide variety of new sources of data has made data quality an issue, and the problem is exacerbated by the fact that companies are reluctant to make their data available in a commonly shared algorithm. To read further, please visit http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/04/how-big-data-gets-real/.
Coding Contest Shows How Big Data Can Improve Health Care
The recent Health 2.0 Boston Code-a-thon brought together information technology (IT) professionals, medical workers, and other experts with an interest in health IT to show how data analytics can improve health care. The competition featured about 85 participants who formed groups to create an application that turns health care data into useful information for patients and care providers. The winning team created No Sleep Kills, a Web site that enables users to access information on how poor sleeping patterns can lead to car accidents. "The whole goal of getting more health data digital is so you can start doing meaningful things with data," says Guy Shechter, who helped develop No Sleep Kills. The site takes information from several sources, including publicly available data from the U.S. government. Event coordinator Deb Linton says the team won first place because it adhered to the competition's theme of using big data by incorporating multiple data sources. Health 2.0 co-chairman Matthew Holt notes that technology can only reach patients and caregivers if the tech community works within the health care system. To read further, please visit http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9227493/Coding_contest_shows_how_big_data_can_improve_health_care.
Massachusetts Offers a New Model for Academic HPC
Several universities in Massachusetts will share high-performance computing (HPC) resources in a unique facility model by the end of the year. The Massachusetts Green High-Performance Computing Center (MGHPCC) will feature terascale hardware and the necessary infrastructure to enable its users to remotely access computing resources, including power, network, and cooling systems. University members include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Boston University, Northeastern University, and the University of Massachusetts system, and they must develop new strategies of implementation. The universities will provide their own hardware and migrate research to the $95 million center. MGHPCC executive director John Goodhue says the challenge will be to make the physical hardware act as a set of private local machines for the various users. To read further, please visit http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2012-05-29/massachusetts_offers_a_new_model_for_academic_hpc.html.
Exascale: Raising the Stakes
Excerpt from HPC Projects
Following the progress on the road to exascale is an interesting and entertaining exercise as more players get involved, predictions get more aggressive and politics and national pride take charge. And of course, the hype meter is overworked as more and more companies claim to have the answers. Funds committed to reaching exascale seem to be growing by the week. But let’s not forget – funding commitments don’t always result in checks being written. It is still far too early to determine who will demonstrate the financial staying power necessary to bring the first exascale-class system to market. The cultures and government infrastructures of China and Japan represent incredibly powerful forces capable of aligning resources, financial and other, to hold a steady course over the next eight years (approximate time for the arrival of exascale). Neither the spirit of commitment attached to national pride, nor the capability of technological innovation from these countries should be taken lightly. They are indeed the front runners for anyone betting on this race. As far back as June of 2010, we saw this quote in The Exascale Report from an anonymous contributor in China labeled Mr Zheng: ‘I think it would be great if the first exascale computer had a very large engraved tag that said, “Made in China”.’ To read further, http://www.hpcprojects.com/news/news_story.php?news_id=1674&goback=.gde_4178444_member_108471597.
Educator Curriculum, News and Opportunities
Free Education Webinar Series from the Aerospace Education Services Project
The Aerospace Education Services Project is presenting a series of free webinars through June 2012. All webinars can be accessed online. Join aerospace education specialists to learn about activities, lesson plans, educator guides and resources to bring NASA into your classroom.
Mars Uncovered: Revealing the Geologic History of Mars
(Grades 5-12)
June 18, 2012, 7:30 - 8:30 a.m. EDT
Aerospace education specialist Tony Leavitt will share an inquiry-based lesson that presents a critical-thinking approach of studying the surface of Mars. This process is similar to the approach used by NASA scientists. This lesson will teach students to examine geologic features of a planetary surface and use relative-age dating techniques to analyze the information and interpret the geologic history.
Sun-Earth-Moon Relationships
(Grades 2-8)
June 20, 2012, noon - 1 p.m. EDT
Aerospace education specialist Rick Varner will present sun-Earth-moon models that help to explain the phases of the moon, and both lunar and solar eclipses. Additionally, the activity Kinesthetic Astronomy will be introduced for its explanation of the seasons.
I'm Signed up for NEON -- Now What??
(Grades K-12)
June 20, 2012, 6- 7 p.m. EDT
Aerospace education specialist Anne Weiss will introduce participants to basic features of the NASA Educators Online Network, or NEON, professional/collaborative learning community. Participants will also learn how to use NEON to find appropriate NASA standards-aligned activities that satisfy state-specific teaching standards.
Our Solar System: A Model Overview
(Grades 4-9)
June 25, 2012, 11 a.m. - noon EDT
Aerospace education specialist Steve Culivan will present NASA inquiry activities that demonstrate remote sensing and scale models to better visualize our sun, planets, asteroids and other objects as a whole system.
Our Solar System: A Model Overview
(Grades 4-9)
June 25, 2012, 3 - 4 p.m. EDT
Aerospace education specialist Steve Culivan will present NASA inquiry activities that demonstrate remote sensing and scale models to better visualize our sun, planets, asteroids and other objects as a whole system.
For more information about these webinars, and to see a full list of webinars taking place through August 2012, please visit http://neon.psu.edu/webinars/.
Research Shows How Computers Can Help Combat Bullying in Schools
Avatar-mediated communication can help resolve problems of bullying in schools, according to researchers at the University of Kent. In a six-month study of students aged 12 to 13, the researchers found that students who used software that incorporates the latest gesture and facial recognition technology felt more positive toward other students. Moreover, students who used computer-generated images of themselves liked and trusted their partner significantly more. These students also had better ideas for combating bullying. The latest avatar technology can produce avatars that respond to facial and gesture cues, which can improve social interaction. The technology also would enable students to remain anonymous. "Advances in avatar technology have great potential to transform the way we connect and empathize with each other using computers," says Kent lecturer Jim Ang. To read further, please visit http://www.kent.ac.uk/news/stories/computers-can-help-combat-bullying/2012.
Harvard University Computer Scientists Teaching Evolutionary Concepts Through Touch
Computer scientists, cognitive psychologists, and biologists at Harvard, Northwestern, Wellesley, and Tufts universities have developed two games, Phylo-Genie and Build-a-Tree, with the goal of teaching evolutionary concepts. The games are educational and aim to make the process of learning difficult material engaging and collaborative. The games take advantage of a multi-touchscreen tabletop, which enables several people to use it simultaneously, either working on independent projects or collaborating on a single project. Phylo-Genie attempts to address the misconceptions that students hold even at the college level. The game walks students through a scenario in which they have been bitten by a rare snake and must identify its closest relatives in order to find the correct anti-venom. Build-a-Tree was designed with an informal museum environment in mind. The game asks users to construct phylogenetic trees by dragging items toward one another in the correct order. To read further, please visit http://www.seas.harvard.edu/news-events/press-releases/teaching-tree-thinking-through-touch.
Student Engagement Opportunities and Information
CMD-IT Student Professional Development Workshop
August 17-18, 2012 - University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Application Deadline Extended to June 19, 2012
CMD-IT is looking forward to our first Student Professional Development Workshop, scheduled for August 17 - 18, 2012, hosted in partnership with the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington. The workshop will provide in-depth professional development for undergraduate and masters level students in computing, with a focus on students from the following underrepresented groups: African-American, Hispanic, Native American, and People with Disabilities. Workshop sessions will include speakers and panelists from industry discussing resume writing, interviewing skills, effective communication, professionalism, and how to take advantage of the first year on the job. Students will also participate in mock interview and resume writing sessions. For more information and to apply, please visit https://apply2.cse.tamu.edu/gts/SPDWorkshop/applicant/.
NSF Releases Report Detailing Substantial Growth in Graduate Enrollment in Science and Engineering in the Past Decade
The number of graduate students enrolled in science, engineering, and health programs in the United States was approximately 632,700 as of fall 2010, according to the U.S. National Science Foundation's Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering. The figure is up 30 percent from 493,000 graduate students in 2000. The number of first-time, full-time graduate students enrolled in science, engineering, and health programs rose to nearly 118,500 in 2010, which is a 50 percent increase from approximately 78,400 graduate students in 2000. Biomedical engineering has been one of the fastest growing fields of science and engineering. Enrollment for biomedical engineering studies has risen by more than 7 percent from 2009 to 2010. However, over the last decade, enrollment has soared from about 3,200 graduate students in 2000 to nearly 8,500 graduate students in 2010, which marks the most rapid growth level at 165 percent. To read further, please visit http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=124370&org=NSF&from=home.
Faculty Opportunities
NSF Announces Advances in Biological Informatics (ABI) RFP
Submission Deadline – September 10, 2012
The Advances in Biological Informatics (ABI) program seeks to encourage new approaches to the analysis and dissemination of biological knowledge for the benefit of both the scientific community and the broader public. The ABI program is especially interested in the development of informatics tools and resources that have the potential to advance- or transform- research in biology supported by the Directorate for Biological Sciences at the National Science Foundation. The ABI program accepts three major types of proposals: Innovation awards that seek to pioneer new approaches to the application of informatics to biological problems, Development awards that seek to provide robust cyberinfrastructure that will enable transformative biological research, and Sustaining awards that seek to support ongoing operations and maintenance of existing cyberinfrastructure that is critical for continued advancement of priority biological research. Fore more information, please visit http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2012/nsf12567/nsf12567.htm?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT.mc_ev=click.
NSF Announces Focused Research Groups in the Mathematical Sciences (FRG) RFP
SubmissionDeadline – September 21, 2012
The purpose of the FRG activity is to allow groups of researchers to respond to recognized scientific needs of pressing importance, to take advantage of current scientific opportunities, or to prepare the ground for anticipated significant scientific developments in the mathematical sciences. Groups may include, in addition to mathematicians and statisticians, researchers from other science and engineering disciplines appropriate to the proposed research. The activity supports projects for which the collective effort by a group of researchers is necessary to reach the scientific goals. Projects should be scientifically focused and well-delineated. It is not the intent of this activity to provide general support for infrastructure. Projects should also be timely, limited in duration to up to three years, and substantial in their scope and impact. For more information, please visit http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2012/nsf12566/nsf12566.htm?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT.mc_ev=click.
Last But Not Least – Items of Interest
Stanford Psychologists Aim to Help Computers Understand You Better
Stanford University researchers have developed a quantitative theory of pragmatics that could lead to more human-like computer systems that use language as flexibly as humans do. The mathematical model helps predict pragmatic reasoning and also could help treat people with language disorders. The research, led by Stanford professors Michael Frank and Noah Goodman, is part of a broader trend to try to understand language using mathematical tools. The researchers recruited 745 participants to take part in an online experiment. The participants saw a set of objects and were asked to bet which one was being referred to by a particular word. The results enabled the researchers to create a mathematical equation to predict human behavior and determine the likelihood of referring to a particular object, and they are currently applying the model to studies on hyperbole, sarcasm, and other aspects of language. To read further, please visit http://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/may/context-affect-language-052912.html,
Oregon State University Researchers Use Technology to Monitor Bird Sounds, Impacts of Environmental Change
Oregon State University (OSU) researchers have developed a multi-instance, multi-label machine-learning system to simultaneously listen to multiple bird sounds. The system is designed to identify which species are present and how they might be changing as a result of habitat loss or climate change. The researchers say the system should provide an automated approach to ecological monitoring of bird species that is much more practical than human researchers sitting in the field. "Now we can tell down to the second when a bird arrives, leaves, when and where it’s choosing to nest, that type of information," says OSU's Forrest Briggs. The system also could be used to identify other forest noises besides bird sounds, and it could be utilized with other animal species, such as grasshoppers, crickets, frogs, and marine mammals. To read further, please visit http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2012/may/technology-monitor-bird-sounds-impacts-environmental-change.
University of Saskatchewan Researchers Create Powerful New Tool for Research and Drug Development
An interdisciplinary and collaborative project at the University of Saskatchewan has resulted in an alternate method for analyzing kinases, a type of enzyme that is involved in virtually every cellular function. Saskatchewan professor Tony Kusalik, a computer scientist who is an expert in bioinformatics, collaborated with biochemistry professor Scott Napper to develop software that is tailor-made for kinases. The microarray is the standard lab tool for analyzing kinases, and Napper says it can generate vast volumes of data that can make no sense. Kusalik says the problem is how that volume of data was being handled. He likens the problem to using a descrambler box from one cable company to try to watch television from another provider, which might lead to fuzzy glimpses of the picture but no clear view of the entire program. "By developing a technique specifically designed for kinase microarrays, we are able to get more data, and with more accuracy," Kusalik says. To read further, please visit http://www.usask.ca/research/news/read.php?id=1076&newsid=1.
