NANO /MACRO / MEGA SCALE DATA CLASSROOM EXPLORATION

Scientists now have substantial resources available to them at their workstation given the advancement of large-scale data acquisition, computing and networking initiatives. These provide incredible opportunities for the modeling, simulation, measurement, and analysis of complex physical phenomena resulting in an overwhelming amount of scientific data being created at increasingly shorter time intervals and ever-higher resolutions. In collaboration with California Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technology, Jackson State University’s College of Science, Engineering and Technology is building and engaging a Scalable Omni-Presence Environment (SCOPE) that would represent a new generation of multi-modal visualization instruments specifically designed to enable intuitive, interactive and collaborative data analysis in the era of big data. The SCOPE Instrument would serve as an integrative, virtual metaphor for a combined microscope and telescope – enabling users to explore data from the nano to macro to mega scale. We are creating a new educational and research environment that is a highly interactive collaboration space, equipped with a natural human-computer interface, advanced 3D modeling and rendering at a sufficient scale to tackle complex experiments and easily analyze large amounts of visual and numerical data pertaining to phenomena of wide dimensions and extreme time scales. Such capabilities will enhance teaching and research at Jackson State University in the earth system sciences, civil and structural engineering, mechanical and aerospace engineering, biomedical and electrical engineering, social sciences and anthropology. Domain specialists will work alongside computer scientists who will address grand challenges in system architecture, data transport, security, representation, arching, processing, multi-modal analytics and human-computer interaction. Concurrently, cultural heritage diagnostics efforts are racing towards creating a future for the past through the creation of cyber-archaeology techniques unleashing massive data amounts. To cope with data of this complexity and detail and to aid in its analysis, a new generation of multi-modal visualization instruments such as the above are required for intuitive, interactive and collaborative data analysis. We discuss the implications and utilization of this technology both in the classroom and research environments.