Cross-pollinating computational science ideas

Computer and information sciences grad student Anthony Danalis (left) discusses a poster with chemical engineering grad student Luo Wang.

3:07 p.m., Feb. 17, 2006--More than 100 scientists, engineers and mathematicians turned out Tuesday, Feb. 14, for UD's first comprehensive conference to unite those who use computing power in their campus research.

Provost Dan Rich told the faculty, staff and graduate students who attended UD Computational Science Day 2006 in the Trabant University Center that he hoped the conference would increase cross-pollination of ideas on campus.

Researchers from 15 departments were sharing ideas by lunchtime--mathematicians, engineers, geologists, physicists, computer scientists, plant scientists, animal scientists, biologists and geographers.

Impetus for the conference came from a conversation between UD President David P. Roselle and Susan Foster, vice president for information technologies, and the project was turned over to Dick Sacher, manager, IT-User Services.

“The University is blessed with exceptional researchers in all disciplines. Today we are learning about the important work of our computational scientists," Foster told those gathered for the conference.

With a “picture is worth a thousand words” approach to science, several speakers discussed visualization research that aims to present scientific data as 3D images or animations on a computer monitor.

Cihan Cobanoglu (right), assistant professor of hotel, restaurant and institutional management, explains his poster to Stephen Bernhardt, chairperson of English.

Karl V. Steiner, associate director of the Delaware Biotechnology Institute, showed how computer modeling could result in an immersive, interactive 3-D environment for visualizing molecular models or life sciences data. He illustrated a virtual surgery environment in which a physician could "touch, feel and interact" with the virtual representation of an organ.

"What we're trying to do is stretch the imagination on how to look at these data in a new, innovative way that might lead to some discoveries we might not otherwise have made," Steiner said.

Researchers shared their knowledge and their needs with each other in presentations and poster sessions--from virtual surgery prototypes to atomic physics calculations to web tools for biologists who use computers but don't program them.

Richard S. Sacher, the manager of IT-User Services who chaired the conference, said he was delighted by the breadth of the research presented and the number and enthusiasm of people who attended.

Louis F. Rossi, an associate professor of mathematical sciences who spoke on "Parallelization of High-Spatial-Order Vortex Methods for 2D Fluid Flows," circulated through the poster session talking to graduate students and computer vendors. "You just walk around and fish for ideas," Rossi said.

The first-place winners of the scientific poster contest were grad student Kara Maki and Tobin Driscoll, associate professor of mathematical sciences, for “Why It Is Safe To Use Gaussian Elimination With Partial Pivoting” and grad student Luo Wang and Antony N. Beris, Arthur B. Metzner Professor of Chemical Engineering, for “Direct Numerical Simulations of Turbulent Flow in a Wavy Channel.”

Faculty, staff and graduate students attending the conference included representatives from hotel, restaurant and institutional management, the Delaware Geological Survey, Office of the Vice Provost for Research, geography, animal and food sciences, the Center for Applied Coastal Research, computer and information sciences, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, IT-University Media Services, mathematical sciences, IT-Network and Systems Services, University Library, physics and astronomy, Delaware Biotechnology Institute, IT-User Services, electrical and computer engineering, plant and soil sciences and chemistry and biochemistry.

The presentations and audio podcasts will be available from the conference web site [www.rdms.udel.edu/csd/agenda.html] and the UD Podcast site [www.ums.udel.edu/podcast] by the end of the month.

Story by Kathy Canavan
Photos by Duane Perry

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