DI5VE: International Virtual Collaboratories for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Research in Distributed Interactive Virt

1. DI5VEInternational Virtual Collaboratories for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Research by Developing Models in & for Distributed Interactive Virtual Environments Dale C. Alverson, MD Internet2 Membership Meeting 2003

2. Presentation Contributors • Tom Caudell, PhD, UNM EECE • Stan Saiki Jr., MD, UH JABSOM • Stephen Itoga, PhD, UH ICS • Peter Yellowlees, MD, UQ SOM • Kevin Burrage, PhD, UQ CS • Karen Haines, PhD, UWA CS

3. Presentation Outline • DI5VE Defined • DI5VE Rationale • DI5VE Concept • SWOT Analysis of Concept • Multi-center Participants • UQ, Brisbane, AU • UWA, Perth, AU • UH • UNM • Conclusion

4. DI5VE defined • Distributed • I5 : Interdisciplinary Interinstitutional International Interactive Internet2 • Virtual • Environments

5. Presentation Outline • DI5VE Defined • DI5VE Rationale • DI5VE Concept • SWOT Analysis of Concept • Multi-center Participants • UQ, Brisbane, AU • UWA, Perth, AU • UH • UNM • Conclusion

6. Rationale • Accelerating revolution in IT • Need for more students in CS, IT, engineering, math and other related fields to support future evolving/emerging technology, research and discovery • Value of interdisciplinary learning, training and problem solving; creating “learning families” and project teams • Leverage scarce specialized resources through Interinstitutional/International collaboration in research, education, and knowledge sharing • Leverage advanced distributed learning tools and communication networks, such as I2, to facilitate and enable those collaborations

7. Distributed Learning In Interactive Virtual Reality Environments via Next Generation Internet2 Grid Technology

8. Proof of Priniciple UNM UH Project TOUCH

9. IVEC (Interactive Virtual Environments Center)

10. Presentation Outline • DI5VE Defined • DI5VE Rationale • DI5VE Concept • SWOT Analysis of Concept • Multi-center Participants • UQ, Brisbane, AU • UWA, Perth, AU • UH • UNM • Conclusion

11. DI5VE Concept • Create virtual international, interinstitutional, interdisciplinary class rooms and laboratories • Join multi-institutional and multi-departmental faculty and students together in learning families and project teams • Use problem-based/case-based approach for developing models for specific projects, making the learning complimentary and relevant to several disciplines • Use I2 and VRE technologies to facilitate information exchange, interaction, education, collaboration, and diffusion of new knowledge

12. Presentation Outline • DI5VE Defined • DI5VE Rationale • DI5VE Concept • SWOT Analysis of Concept • Multi-center Participants • UQ, Brisbane, AU • UWA, Perth, AU • UH • UNM • Conclusion

13. Concept Strengths • Enables sharing of expertise and provides potential synergism • Facilitates collaboration and exchange independent of distance • Distributes teaching and research burden • Avoids unnecessary redundancy • Links disparate disciplines into complementary applications in problem solving and project development • Enhances experiential learning for students and makes learning relevant and more engaging • Teaches team process and value of collaboration • Participating institutions’ prior experience and interest in the concept

14. Weaknesses • Difficulties in management, coordination and curricular integration across disciplines and institutions • Problems with network reliability and QoS • “Last Mile” connectivity problems • Time-zone differences challenge real-time interaction • Lack of identified resources for development and sustainability

15. Opportunities • Create new collaborations in education, research and discovery independent of distance barriers (“virtual collaboratories”) • Facilitate initiatives addressing global problems • Create an economy of scale through sharing of expertise and resources • Facilitate diffusion of new knowledge and adoption of best practices • Enhance ability to obtain funds for productive, collaborative research and development • Engage and create a new generation of collaborative scientists, researchers and educators for future innovation development and support

16. Threats • Politics • Competition • Egos • Cultural Differences • Language Barriers • Lack of Resources and Investment • Failure to Sustain Internet2 • Failure to Demonstrate Value and ROI

17. Presentation Outline • DI5VE Defined • DI5VE Rationale • DI5VE Concept • SWOT Analysis of Concept • Multi-Center Participants • UQ, Brisbane, AU • UWA, Perth, AU • UH • UNM • Conclusion

18. Multi-center participants • UQ, Brisbane, AU • UWA, Perth, AU • UNM • UH • HITLab NZ, UC, Christchurch, NZ

19. University of QueenslandPeter Yellowlees, MD and Kevin Burrage, PhD Virtual Reality Center Visualisation and Advanced Computing (VISAC) Role is to form partnerships with other groups that need sophisticated visualisation tools and to give training and develop educational material. They undertake a variety of projects from pure research to collaborative commercial and noncommercial applications. Our work covers such diverse areas such as Medical applications, Mining applications, Architectural applications and artistic collaborations. The Advanced Computational Modelling Centre (ACMC): Located at the University of Queensland has been created to foster interaction between science and industry in the use of advanced technologies such as high performance computers (HPC), scientific visualisation of complex data sets, advanced informatics, computer simulation and modeling, and parallel numerical algorithms.

20. VISAC The curved screen of the VISAC laboratory

21. VISAC(UQ) Virtual Reality Psychosis Simulation Environment

22. University of Western AustraliaKaren Haines, PhD

23. CTEC Clinical Education and Training Center UWA

24. HITLab NZUniversity of Canterbury Mark Billinghurst, PhD Augmented Reality Collaborative Mixed Reality Merging Real and Virtual Worlds

25. University of New MexicoThomas Preston Caudell, Ph.D.Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering “The Homunculus Project: Virtual Environments for Discovery and Analysis of Complex Systems”

26. Motivation I n gene ra l, inv e s t iga t ing and unde rs t a nding th e cont e nt o f mu l tid i men s ion a l in f o rm ation is a ma j o r imp e dim e nt in t he app l ica t ion o f ba s i c r e s ea r ch re su l t s . The s c i enti s t re ma i ns s epa r a t ed fr om h i s / he r da t a, w i th th e compu t e r ac t ing a s a r ec a lc i t r an t int e r m edi ar y.

27. Homunculus Project Hy p ot h es i s: Th e d e v e lopmen t a nd us e o f im m e r siv e vi r tu a l re al i ty i nte rf a c es to comp l ex high p e r f o r m a nc e c omput e r simul a tion s w il l e nhan c e our ab i lity to a dvan c e sc i en c e .

28. Goals of Homunculus Project • Improved human comprehension of large-scale complex simulations and data • Creation of virtual laboratories, tools, and methods for scientists • Continuous testing and quantitative evaluation

29. Approach Perception Mental Model Concepts Mapping Interaction Representations Learning & Discovery Reification

30. ResearchProjects • Neural System Modeling (Boeing) • TOUCH Project (HHS) • Scientific Vis (LANL) • Program Vis and Comprehension (HPCERC) • Transactional Graph Vis (SNL) • Parallel Computer Vis (LANL) • Network Intrusion Vis (LANL) • Nondestructive Chip Vis (SNL) • Art & Science (UNM ATC & Rockefeller) • Laproscopic Simulation (Medview)

31. University of HawaiiStan Saiki Jr., MD and Stephen Itoga, PhD See synergy with current institutional efforts • Project TOUCH (UH/UNM Joint initiative in advanced distributed learning using VR over I2 for medical education and training) • Bioinformatics thrust in EPSCOR NSF R11 initiative with UH Hilo, PBRC, HIMB focusing on large biological, genomic and ecological data sets; visualization of the information within these sets of interest • IT Alliance at UH involving ICS, EE, Communications, IT Management, Ed Tech, Music and Art with effort to establish IT certificates, major and minor • Academy of Creative Media (ACM) shaping up to be system-wide initiative at UH with focus on storytelling and visualization.

32. University of Hawaii DIVE Hawaii Partners: John A. Burns, School of Medicine TOUCH Collaboration Department of Information and Computer Sciences DI5VE: Distributed Interdisciplinary, Inter-institutional, International, Interactive, Internet-2 Virtual Environments Program Stanley M. Saiki, Jr., M.D. Stephen Itoga, PhD

33. DI5VE: - University of Hawaii Component Builds on TOUCH Collaboration with University of New Mexico • Current TOUCH Project: • Develop and assess use of Access Grid and shared virtual environments in medical education • Develop alliances and distance enabled shared projects with other institutions • Test collaborative educational virtual environments deployed over Internet 2 • DI5VE Concept: Share current development with Interdisciplinary, Inter-Institutional, International, partners. Look to international collaboration in future development. • Training and education opportunities for students in the development process and as end users

34. DI5VE: - University of Hawaii Component Builds on TOUCH Collaboration with University of New Mexico • Current UH Project: • Multidisciplinary Teams formed in undergraduate courses integrate students from, Computer Science, Biologic Science, Art (Music, Graphic Arts, Film)

35. Build Virtual Environment applications for education in Bioscience • DI5VE Concept: Interdisciplinary, Inter-Institutional, International, Interactive, Internet-2 Development and Deployment of VR Educational Tools in Bio-Science, provides educational opportunities for students at all levels of training

36. DI5VE: - University of Hawaii Component Development at University of Hawaii brings other potential collaborations • Developing UH Projects: • Center for Computational Biology, being developed at UH will focus on gathering, processing and visualizing large biological, genomic, and ecological data sets • Academy of Creative Media, a system wide initiative for UH with a focus on storytelling and visualization • DI5VE Concept: Interdisciplinary, Inter-Institutional, International, Interactive, Internet-2 collaborations in development and deployment of applications serving above, educating students at all levels and independent of distance

37. Presentation Outline • DI5VE Defined • DI5VE Rationale • DI5VE Concept • SWOT Analysis of Concept • Multi-center Participants • UQ, Brisbane, AU • UWA, Perth, AU • UH • UNM • Conclusion

38. Conclusion • DI5VE offers a global approach for developing the next generation of scientists, researchers and educators, independent of distance • Provides a multi-center, international approach for collaboration, information exchange, discovery, and diffusion of new knowledge • Engages and facilitates interdisciplinary education and R&D through use of advanced distributed learning, applying I2 and VRE technologies (Uses the tools to teach students how to use those tools effectively in creating new discoveries) • Resources needed to implement and demonstrate the real value of the concept