EDITOR&rsquo;S NOTE: The Winter 2011 edition of UIC Alumni Magazine features the campus&rsquo; Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) in the article &ldquo;Future World&rsquo; by Stuart Luman. Before visiting EVL several times and talking extensively with faculty, staff, students and alumni, Luman did his homework - reading articles on the Lab and watching videos of historical and recent work that appear on television websites and YouTube - and he admitted at one point that he was &ldquo;awash in information.&rdquo; 
Given how thorough he was - Luman said &ldquo;EVL and the general area definitely fascinates me&rdquo; - he collected far too much information for one article, so decided he would write &lsquo;a greatest hits or sampler pack… Too much to really give people a real sense of what the lab has done, but hopefully they&rsquo;ll be left with a greater understanding of where
the tech came from and a taste for the lab.&rdquo; 
Stuart Luman was selected by UIC Alumni Magazine to write the feature, and he was certainly qualified. He has been a writer, editor and journalist for almost 15 years; he worked at Wired magazine and the Bulletin of the Atomic\ Scientists, and has written for BusinessWeek, Crain’s Chicago Business, Chicago magazine, and several other publications. Most recently, he is working on an IBM book project and a multimedia technology exhibit. 
FUTURE WORLD 
A scene in Star Wars. Life-like avatars. Cave Automatic Virtual Environment. They all germinated in UIC's Electronic Visualization Lab. A place where the clock is always 15 years fast. 
by Stuart Luman UIC Alumni Magazine, Winter 2011 
EXCERPTS: 
Since its founding in 1973 as the Circle Graphics Habitat by artist and physicist Daniel Sandin and computer scientist Tom DeFanti, EVL has been a bridge between technology and the arts. A joint program of UIC&rsquo;s College of Engineering and the School of Art and Design, it was one of the nation&rsquo:s first such labs. EVL students can graduate with an MFA in electronic visualization (perhaps, the oldest degree of its kind in the country) or an MS or PhD in computer science. 
Although not as well known or well funded as institutions such as MIT&rsquo;s Media Lab, EVL has a long history of radically changing the way people visualize and interact with data and technology. 
Jason Leigh, PhD&rsquo;98 Eng, the lab&rsquo;s director, was recently profiled on PBS&rsquo;s Nova ScienceNOW and the Discovery Channel's Popular Science&rsquo;s Future Of. What caught the producers&rsquo; attention was Leigh and his colleagues&rsquo; efforts to create life-like computer avatars. The project, fittingly called LifeLike, seeks to digitally capture a person&rsquo;s likeness, facial expressions and speech patterns and to create virtual reproductions that can interact with people far into the future. It&rsquo;s all part of an effort by Leigh - and those at EVL - to push the boundaries of technology. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s one step closer to living in my Star Trek future,&rdquo; says the 46-year-old Leigh, who has spent the last 20 years at EVL, first as a graduate student and then a professor, before becoming its director in 2005. &ldquo;When I was a kid, I wanted to live in the science fiction world that Captain Kirk was living in. All we&rsquo;re trying to do is to make it real.&rdquo; 
<a href="https://www.evl.uic.edu/pubs/2764">Read the full article.</a>

UIC Alumni Magazine, Winter 2011

EVL students demonstrate Fleet Commander on EVL's Cyber-Commons

Future World: EVL... where the clock is always 15 years fast

EVL associate professor Andrew Johnson participated in the plenary session at the Southeast Asia International Joint Research Training Program in High-Performance Computing Applications and Networking Technology event Taichung, Taiwan presenting &ldquo;Future Me - Human Augmentics for Sustained Wellbeing.&rdquo;

Human Augmentics Presentation

Human Augmentics

Future Me - Human Augmentics for Sustained Wellbeing Sustained Wellbeing

EVL associate professor Andrew Johnson participated in the plenary session at the Southeast Asia International Joint Research Training Program in High-Performance Computing Applications and Networking Technology event Taichung, Taiwan presenting &ldquo;Cyber-commons - A High Resolution, High Bandwidth, Collaborative Lens for Focusing Attention to Solve Data-rich Problems.&rdquo;

Cyber-Commons Presentation

EVL 3D Cyber-Commons

Cyber-Commons - A High Resolution, High Bandwidth, Collaborative Lens for Focusing Attention to Solve Data-rich Problems

Presentation to the UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory 
Tech Meeting, WEDNESDAY, November 16, 2pm, Room 2068 ERF 

Abstract 
Science is about telling a compelling story that is persuasive to the experts in each domain. Note that each domain of science requires its own form of discourse in order to be persuasive. The form of discourse in science is juridical: one has a series of claims to make and methods used as warrants in their support. Viz provides essential and powerful new warrants and has changed the nature of science at its core. This Laboratory (EVL) was essential in the development of visualization methods across scientific domains that provide the needed scientific warnings in support of what we believe we know. In fact, as you know, there has been a significant paradigm shift in the nature of the advanced sciences. 

So what is science now and how must scientific visualization methods contribute to a scientific story that is persuasive and rooted in a clear understanding of the modern philosophy of science? And how can it contribute to learning. One form of innovation I have created is a Viz form appropriate for Education: Educational Research Visualizations; another form is Scientific Digital Journalism as a method of creating compelling learning resources. 

This presentation will be a personal story of connecting the dots, and the great insights and understanding achieved throughout my life, my education, my research in computational science and computer graphics, filmmaking and journalism, cognitive sciences and education, and the philosophical underpinnings of modern science. I will provide illustrations and examples in many media formats. 

As an educator and researcher and instructional designer, I have been able to integrate my education and experiences and now it&rsquo;s time for me to use all of the modern media forms to compose my thinking so I can share it effectively. In the past, this is meant publishing a set of books, however what I want to end up demonstrating here is how I am creating a set of e-books that will be marketed in the same manner that apps are.

e-Book PERT Chart

Educational Research Visualizations &amp; Scientific Digital Journalism Presentation

EDITOR&rsquo;S NOTE: Last week the UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory introduced a 3D version of its popular Cyber-Commons&rsquo; technology-enhanced classroom and meeting room, developed in collaboration with Planar Systems, using 3-D ultra-thin border, flat-panel displays. On November 16, 2011, UIC NEWS published the article &ldquo;Learning in 3-D,&rdquo; which includes recent photos of our new 3D wall. 

LEARNING IN 3D 
Paul Francuch, UIC NEWS 

The Cyber-Commons displays form a cinematic blackboard that Leigh describes as &ldquo;democratic&rdquo; in its use. Anyone in the room with a laptop or tablet device can wirelessly grab space on the Cyber-Commons wall and simultaneously display multiple images, from documents to videos. 

Users can call up stored images, positioning and sizing them with their fingers on a touch-sensitive display surface. They can work in real time with others around the world, using high-performance networks and EVL-developed software called SAGE - Scalable Adaptive Graphics Environment. 

&ldquo;3-D is more than Hollywood gimmickry,&rdquo; says Jason Leigh, professor of computer science and director of UIC&rsquo;s Electronic Visualization Laboratory. &ldquo;Humans understand information much more effectively in 3-D.&rdquo; 

<a href="http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/uicnews/articledetail.cgi?id=15876">Read the entire article</a>

EVL&rsquo;s 3D Cyber-Commons

LEARNING IN 3D

EVL&rsquo;s SC11 SAGE meeting provides an opportunity for the SAGE global user community to meet, discuss current and future development efforts, and to share examples of community-developed use cases and applications. All towards the effort to advance scientific research and education by providing production-quality, community-driven open services for visualization and collaboration that utilize shared national and international cyberinfrastructure. 

Tuesday, November 15, 2011 
12:15PM - 01:15PM 
Washington State Convention and Trade Center (WSCC), Room 613 / 614 

This meeting is a SAGE forum designed to: 
<ul>
<li>Introduce key SAGE team members</li>
<li>Provide an overview of SAGE&rsquo;s long-term roadmap</li>
<li>Review newly developed SAGE capabilities and applications</li>
<li>Highlight examples of how SAGE is used for research and education</li>
<li>Solicit feedback</li>
</ul>

SAGE Logo

SC11 SAGE Meeting: Scalable Adaptive Graphics Environment for Global Collaboration

SAGE, the Scalable Adaptive Graphics Environment, is a graphics streaming architecture that enables users to interactively access, display and share a variety of data-intensive information, in a variety of resolutions and formats, from multiple sources, with the same ease that the Web affords for accessing lower-resolution objects today. This BOF session provides an opportunity for the SAGE global user community - current users as well as potential users - to meet, discuss current and future development efforts, and share examples of community-developed use cases and applications. SAGE is a three-year project (2009-2012) funded by the National Science Foundation to create persistent visualization and collaboration services for global cyberinfrastructure, and is currently deployed at 78 major centers, institutions and research laboratories worldwide. 

SAGE BOF 
EVL hosted a SAGE Birds of a Feather (BOF) session at SC11. 

Tuesday, November 15 
12:15PM - 01:15PM 
Washington State Convention and Trade Center (WSCC), Seattle, WA 

Presentations and videos are available for download from the <a href="http://www.sagecommons.org/sage-bof-at-sc11/">SAGE website</a>.

SAGE BOF Audience at SC11

SAGE HIGHLIGHTS @ SC11

Mobile Processing is a yearly conference hosted by the UIC Innovation Center in support of Chicago&rsquo;s creative and development communities. The 2011 conference, held from November 11-13, 2011, focuses on the Android and JavaScript modes of Processing 2.0. 

Organized by UIC New Media Arts, associate professor Daniel Sauter, Mobile Processing brings together internationally recognized innovators from the open source software community, startup companies, students, and scholars, from areas such as Art and Design, Computer Science, Communication, and Information Sciences. The 2nd edition features a series of lectures, workshops, and presentations, all free and open to the public (workshops require prior registration). A new addition to the conference is the Chicago Processing Forum, featuring Chicago-based projects and companies using the open source Processing environment. 

Keynote speaker Ben Fry, winner of the 2011 National Cooper-Hewitt Design Award, will present the first release of Processing 2.0, and its new modes now targeting Android devices and JavaScript-powered web apps. The award-winning language is used by tens of thousands of students, artists, designers, researchers, and hobbyists for learning, prototyping, and production. Currently, more than 70,000 individuals use Processing on a regular basis. Processing is free to download, open source and cross-platform. 

The UIC Innovation Center is a collaboration space embedded in a leading research university, initiating programs and activities that bridge research and education with industry. 

EVL digital media research specialist, JD Pirtle kicks off this years event Thursday, November 10th, 5pm with an introduction to the Processing Workshop.

Mobile Processing 2011

by Paul Francuch, UIC NEWS 
November 9, 2011 

Seamlessly-tiled LCD flat-screen displays stretching floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall at the University of Illinois at Chicago&rsquo;s Electronic Visualization Laboratory &ldquo;Cyber-Commons&rdquo; has served as a digitally-enhanced way to display, manipulate and exchange information and images since its opening in 2009. On November 11, EVL demonstrates Cyber-Commons&rsquo; latest enhancement - three-dimensional imagery, displayed along with traditional 2-D images. 

&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a very powerful way to communicate ideas,&rdquo; said Jason Leigh, UIC-EVL director and professor of computer science. &ldquo;It lets people work together, make sense of lots of information and hopefully derive insights quicker. We&rsquo;ve found it changes the way students work together.&rdquo; 

The Cyber-Commons flat-screen displays are tiled on the wall to form a nearly cinematic classroom blackboard that Leigh describes as &ldquo;democratic&rdquo; in its use. Anyone in the room with a laptop or tablet device such as an iPad can wirelessly grab space on the Cyber-Commons wall and simultaneously display multiple images from documents to videos. Users can also call up stored images, positioning and sizing them with their fingers on a touch-sensitive display surface. That&rsquo;s made possible by EVL-developed software called SAGE - Scalable Adaptive Graphics Environment - which also enables Cyber-Commons 3-D, or CC3D, to link via high-performance networks for real-time collaboration with facilities around the world. 

&ldquo;CC3D puts 2-D and 3-D on the same screen at the same time,&rdquo; said Maxine Brown, EVL&rsquo;s associate director. CC3D will initially use passive stereo technology to view 3-D. While passive stereo requires special glasses, they&rsquo;re not expensive like active stereo glasses that cost around $100, now used with consumer 3-D TV sets. &ldquo;Our glasses cost less than $1,&rdquo; said Brown, who thinks it&rsquo;ll be a few years before &ldquo;auto-stereo&rdquo; technology - which doesn&rsquo;t need special glasses - becomes both widespread and cheap. In the meantime, Brown thinks $1 glasses will be widely affordable to schools, museums, medical centers and businesses that are likely to use 3-D Cyber-Commons facilities. 

Using 2009 federal economic stimulus grants, EVL worked with Oregon-based Planar Systems to create a 3-D LCD, ultra-thin border flat-panel display wall that gives Cyber-Commons its new, added dimension. After working together on a display prototype, Planar provided EVL with customized technology which they call the &ldquo;Clarity Matrix LCD Video Wall&rdquo;. Planar - a company specializing in high quality visualization and digital signage displays - gets a new product to market. 

Leigh will test UIC&rsquo;s CC3D facility next spring when he collaboratively teaches a video game development course with a professor at Louisiana State University. He said UIC-EVL&rsquo;s focus is on scientific research and educational use, such as medicine, engineering and chemistry, where adding 3-D images which researchers, students and instructors can jointly manipulate and study offers real insight and understanding. 

&ldquo;3-D is more than Hollywood gimmickry,&rdquo; said Leigh. &ldquo;Humans understand information much more effectively in 3-D.&rdquo; Visualizing a molecule, for example, in only two-dimensions can be too abstract or lack the depth cues to be adequately comprehended. Geoscience is another field where 3-D adds substantial advantages. Leigh cited a study of male and female students that found females had typically performed poorer in geospatial tests. But when stereoscopic - 3-D - capability was added to the visualization, both males and females improved and the gender differences disappeared. &ldquo;It eliminates that barrier,&rdquo; Leigh said. 

CC3D will also serve as a technology test bed for UIC-EVL&rsquo;s &ldquo;Next-Generation CAVE&rdquo; Automatic Virtual Environment facility, debuting a year from now. CAVE, developed 20 years ago at EVL and now commercialized by companies around the world, originally used projectors and very expensive 3-D glasses to work. Leigh calls the new display technology for CC3D bright and &ldquo;gloriously beautiful.&rdquo; &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be the first to build an LCD, non-projector-based CAVE,&rdquo; said Leigh. &ldquo;We calculate that the display resolution will be on the order of what matches human vision.&rdquo; 

UIC-EVL doctoral graduate Tom Peterka, now a scientist at Argonne National Laboratory, is helping in both NG-CAVE and CC3D development with an eye on possible use of such 3-D technology at America&rsquo;s national laboratories.

EVL&rsquo;s 3D Cyber-Commons with grad student Jillian Aurisano and researcher JD Pirtle

New UIC &lsquo;Cyber-Commons&rsquo; Wall Pops with 3-D Imagery

Dr. Dylan Menzies (Department of Media Technology, De Montfort University, UK) presents his research in audio signal processing, physical acoustics, and music technology at EVL, Wed October 19, 2011. 

Abstract 
Virtual Audio Reality 

Development of audio for virtual and augmented reality systems is an active research area that has the potential to enhance immersion and perceptual bandwidth. Two aspects are considered in this talk, the control and display of spatial content in audio, and the generation of sound and vibration using models within a physically modelled environment. Some background is presented and an overview of some recent research projects. While many challenges remain, progress has extended the role for audio in VR.

Dylan Menzies,

Virtual Audio Reality, Dylan Menzies

With the &ldquo;Star Wars&rdquo; theme thundering in the background, space ships battle on a giant wall screen. Destroyers launch dozens of fighter planes, each firing bursts of red or blue lasers at one another and at larger craft. Ships explode, visibly and audibly. You&rsquo;re watching gamers play &ldquo;Fleet Commander&rdquo; on a 20-foot-wide high-resolution tiled display wall at the UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL), created by computer-science graduate student Arthur Nishimoto. 

Arthur Nishimoto is interviewed in the article &ldquo;Profile: For Arthur Nishimoto, work is all fun and games,&rdquo; which appears in the October 19, 2011 issue of UIC NEWS. Nishimoto describes how his fascination with video games motivated him to study computer science at UIC, and how he is pondering life after getting his MS degree. Should he continue with a doctorate, or accept LucasArts&rsquo; invitation to work in its video game division? 

Since it was uploaded to YouTube three months ago, a video of Nishimoto and fellow students playing &ldquo;Fleet Commander&rdquo; has gone viral, currently approaching 650,000 views. It has been featured in news sites like MSNBC as well as technology and gaming sites. 

<a href="http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/uicnews/articledetail.cgi?id=15762">Read the complete article</a> 

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/evltube#p/a/u/0/6V0o3TjB2Tw">View &ldquo;Fleet Commander&rdquo; on YouTube</a> 

To date, articles about the game appear in the following publications. 
<ul>
<li><a href="http://kotaku.com/5820231/this-is-the-best-star-wars-game-weve-seen-in-a-long-time">Kotaku</a></li>
<li><a href="http://ingame.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/07/12/7069854-you-will-wish-you-could-play-this-giant-game">MSNBC In-game</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/07/fleet-commander-star-wars/">Wired.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://boingboing.net/2011/07/12/watch-these-kids-pla.html">BoingBoing</a> 
<li><a href="http://theforce.net/latestnews/story/StudentMade_Fleet_Commander_Video_Game_139448.asp">The Force.Net</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/uicnews/articledetail.cgi?id=15543">UIC News (July 27, 2011)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.evl.uic.edu/core.php?mod=4&amp;type=4&amp;indi=766">EVL website</a></li>
</ul>

<a href="http://sites.google.com/site/arthurnishimoto/fleet-commander">To learn more about the game, visit Nishimoto&rsquo;s website</a> 

While EVL received notoriety in 1977 for helping develop the computer graphics &ldquo;briefing room&rdquo; scene for the first Star Wars&rsquo; movie, today&rsquo;s faculty, staff and students continue to be fans of the Star Wars&rsquo; universe.

Arthur Nishimoto

Profile: For Arthur Nishimoto, work is all fun and games

Mobility Shifts explores the changing locales for learning - from libraries, after school programs and museums to living rooms. it is about new learning institutions, informal peer-to-peer learning networks and the aspiration to get certification for new, self-directed types of study.

Mobility Shifts, Scalable Digital Pedagogies for Undergraduate Education Panel

The Winter 2010 edition of the UIC Alumni News magazine profiled MS &rsquo;94 Engineering student Mike Papka in the article &ldquo;Hard Wired&rdquo; by Sara Langen. Papka is associate laboratory director for computing, environment and life sciences at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) as well as co-director of the Futures Laboratory in the Mathematics and Computer Science Division. He is also a senior fellow at the ANL / University of Chicago Computation Institute. 

EVL is proud to call Papka one of its own. As a computer science graduate student, he was an EVL research assistant working in the areas of scientific visualization and virtual reality - a passion that continues today. His deep interest in science (his undergraduate degree is in physics) and high-performance computing recently led to his assuming yet another position at ANL, that of Division Director of the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF). 

Over the years, Papka continues to collaborate with EVL and has hired some of the Lab&rsquo;s best and brightest to join the ANL staff. He values the education he received at UIC, and hopes to someday teach more, particularly undergraduates, to imbue then with an appreciation for high-end computing infrastructure and its use in scientific discovery.

UIC Alumni News - Profile Mike Papka

Mike Papka, deputy associate laboratory director for computing, environment and life sciences at Argonne National Laboratory.

EVL Alumnus Mike Papka profiled in UIC Alumni News magazine

September 14, 2011 - Today, the UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) retired and dismantled Varrier, a unique tiled-display, head-tracked, auto-stereographic display. It was built exactly ten years ago, in September 2001, with funding from the National Science Foundation. EVL&rsquo;s goal was to develop a collaborative, virtual-reality environment that was seamlessly integrated into one&rsquo;s workspace, enabling users to see whiteboards, presentations, and laptops as well as 3D content *without* having to wear special glasses or physical wires. 

Varrier was the most advanced technological innovation of its time - and the &ldquo;wow&rdquo; factor for university visitors. A pharmaceutical executive who had visited previously visited EVL brought his family to the Lab one day, and said, &ldquo;I want my wife to see Mars&rdquo; - referring to the popular 3D visualization of the surface of Mars, developed with NASA data, that ran on Varrier. A new member of the University of Illinois&rsquo; Board of Trustees, speaking at a UIC Alumni event, told the audience how impressed he was with a recent tour of UIC - the buildings, the people, the research and the &ldquo;flight over Mars.&rdquo; 

But, Varrier also had technological limitations - the goal of a fully integrated workspace could not be fully achieved - and now its parts are beginning to fail, many of which can no longer be replaced. Meanwhile, EVL received new funding from the National Science Foundation to innovate and develop yet another advanced visualization and virtual-reality display using today&rsquo;s powerful computers, 2D / 3D display screens, high-speed networks and intuitive user interfaces. 

Hence, it was time to retire and dismantle Varrier - a bittersweet affair since Varrier occupies the space previously filled with another EVL invention, the CAVE, a fully immersive 3D stereoscopic environment that was developed in 1992 and successfully commercialized shortly thereafter. The CAVE was enhanced and improved for over a decade, and eventually retired and dismantled as its components aged and newer technologies came on the market. Fittingly, the space occupied by Varrier will now house EVL&rsquo;s newest invention, the Next-Generation CAVE (NG-CAVE) - the world&rsquo;s first flat-panel-based, high-resolution CAVE - which will have 2 times the resolution of the original Varrier, and will have 20 times the resolution of the original CAVE at less than half the cost. 

In tribute to Varrier, EVL continues its research on auto-stereoscopic displays while pushing the state of the art on advanced visualization and virtual reality display environments for cyberinfrastructure. EVL builds on its past successes, and many of its research studies are finally realized in the commercial market 10-20 years later. So, it is with both sadness and satisfaction that Varrier is retired as EVL takes advantage of new opportunities to achieve its ultimate goal of an active, persistent workspace filled with rich multimedia content. 
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.evl.uic.edu/core.php?mod=4&amp;type=1&amp;indi=275">Varrier</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.evl.uic.edu/core.php?mod=4&amp;type=1&amp;indi=173">CAVE</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.evl.uic.edu/core.php?mod=4&amp;type=4&amp;indi=699">NG-CAVE</a></li>
</ul>

Gaby Lopez explores virtual Mars on EVL now defunct Varrier

VARRIER IS RETIRED: SPACE RENOVATION FOR NEXT-GENERATION INNOVATION

The September 6, 2011 issue of CRAIN&rsquo;S CHICAGO BUSINESS features an article by Paul Merrion titled &ldquo;Joel Mambretti, inventor of the Internet, really.&rdquo; While that title is a bit overarching, the article does go on to qualify Mambretti&rsquo;s networking contributions for research and education communities - locally, regionally, nationally and internationally - resulting in Chicago&rsquo;s reputation today as one of the world&rsquo;s leading advanced networking exchanges worldwide. 

And, Maxine Brown, associate director of the UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory, is quoted in the article, attesting to her long-time collaborator&rsquo;s creativity and perseverance. As Brown explains, &ldquo;Joe did more than speed up interactions; he created them out of nothing. He&rsquo;s not afraid of jumping in with things that never existed before.&rdquo; 

UIC and Mambretti have worked together for several decades to ensure that this campus, as well as other Illinois research and education institutions and government laboratories, have the best networking available. UIC began collaborating with him in the 1980s, and was one of the founding members of MREN (Midwest Research &amp; Education Network), which he created in the early 1990s. At that time, Mambretti arranged it so that MREN was hosted by Ameritech. 

So, when Tom DeFanti and Maxine Brown of UIC&rsquo;s Electronic Visualization Laboratory received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant in 1997 for international networking, they built on Mambretti&rsquo;s successes and selected Ameritech to interconnect European, Asian and South American networks with those in the U.S. By the year 2000, given the rapid advancements in information technology, DeFanti, Brown, Mambretti and others wanted to explore more advanced networking possibilities - and though Ameritech was supportive, the company encouraged them to pursue on their own, as there was no &ldquo;business case&rdquo; for unproven technology that was research focused rather than production oriented. NSF renewed the international networking grant to UIC in 2000, and Northwestern University provided Mambretti with a recently vacated data center facility on its downtown campus, and the StarLight international network exchange was born. 

As the Crain&rsquo;s article goes on to state, &ldquo;the Chicago hub known as StarLight has 120 connections at 10 gigabits apiece and soon will have multiple 100-gigabit connections&rdquo; - making it the largest global research and education network exchange in the world. It&rsquo;s nice that Crain&rsquo;s recognizes Mambretti&rsquo;s contributions, as well as the involvement of UIC. 

<a href="http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20110903/ISSUE01/309039978/joel-mambretti-inventor-of-the-internet-really">Read the complete story in Crain&rsquo;s Chicago Business</a> 

Note: Last year, Maxine Brown received recognition for the role she and DeFanti played in the development of StarLight. For more information, see: 
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.uic.edu/depts/omc/impact/visionary.html">www.uic.edu/depts/omc/impact/visionary.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2009/03/17/starlight-project">chicagotonight.wttw.com/2009/03/17/starlight-project</a></li>
</ul>

Joel Mambretti, Northwestern University

Crain&rsquo;s article on inventing the (future) internet

EVL PhD candidate Sangyoon Lee presents his preliminary examination for doctoral dissertation: Friday, September 2, 2011, 10AM, EVL Cyber-Commons (2068 ERF) 

Abstract 
A Supervised Hybrid Expression Control Framework for a Lifelike Affective Avatar (SHECF) is proposed, which promotes easy design and development for an affective avatar-enabled application. The use of an avatar-enabled application has been rapidly growing over the last decade as it promises more natural computer interaction with advanced technologies in various domains. Furthermore, recent research efforts towards natural and affective avatar capabilities have become more prevalent in the field. However, developing such application still remains very hard and time-consuming task. This is mainly because a believable avatar model intuitively aims to mimic a real human including realistic appearance and wide spectrum of complex behavior. Even though we have to approach this problem as a whole piece, most of studies focused on only small part of a model due to its complexity. Proposed SHECF combines highly realistic avatar visuals with emotionally expressive behavior model to overcome current limitations.Recently, the state of art researches in computer graphics present realistic renderings of human face with programmable commodity graphics processing unit. However, these results are mostly focused on static model or non-interactive character animations whereas avatar researches tend to use very limited visualization capabilities. Merging two research efforts will provide better chance to surpass Mori&rsquo;s Uncanny Valley and to achieve more natural experience with an avatar. Another discrepancy found in literature is two distinct methodologies towards modeling human behavior such as rule-based and data-driven model. The model of rule-based system offers highly coherent behavior based on psychological theories but it lacks in subconscious or unconscious behavior. The latter method relies on large amount of rich data to extract uncertain nature of human to mimic it on avatar model but it suffers from limited depth of knowledge that is required to understand progressive causalities in our face-to-face communications. SHECF sets the middle ground to orchestrate both models and offers better congruency and naturalness at the same time to increase avatar believability.

Sangyoon Lee presenting his avatar research on EVL Cyber-Commons

Supervised Hybrid Expression Control Framework for a Lifelike Affective Avatar

Michael Lewis, a PhD student in the UIC Computer Science department and the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL), is a recipient of the State of Illinois&rsquo; 2011-2012 Diversifying Higher Education Faculty in Illinois (DFI) Fellowship - and the only person majoring in computer science. 

As an African-American who has held various scientific visualization and virtual-reality programming jobs in industry, as well as a brief stint as a community organizer for political action, Lewis values the need for under-represented groups to become active within their communities, and to serve as mentors and role models. Always interested in a career in academia, he returned to graduate school two years ago, and earlier this year pursued the DFI Fellowship. In his DFI application, Lewis wrote that by becoming a professor, he would be able to &ldquo;reach out to under-represented groups, develop my passion for helping and inspiring others through teaching, and have the opportunity to conduct cutting-edge, computer science research.&rdquo; 

Lewis is no stranger to EVL; he received his Master&rsquo;s degree at UIC in Computer Science in 2002 for developing the CAVE virtual-reality application &ldquo;Tele-Immersive Data Explorer 2 (TIDE2).&rdquo; TIDE2 enabled users to import and interact with multiple large-scale visual datasets. Upon graduating, he worked for Fuel Tech, developing a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling application to enable engineers and clients to navigate through complex flow behaviors. In 2004, this software product was chosen as software of the year by Desktop Engineering magazine. Lewis eventually went to work as a researcher at the Army High Performance Research Center, (AHPRC) in Minneapolis, where he continued to develop in-house visualization software products. 

His love of research, and his interest in becoming an educator, mentor, and role model, brought him back to UIC in Fall 2009. EVL immediately gave Lewis a research assistantship to work with a small team of students on &ldquo;The Day the Earth Shook,&rdquo; an earthquake preparedness video game for middle-school children, which was funded by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency through grants from the US Department of Homeland Security. When that project ended, he became a teaching assistant for a computer graphics course, where he prepared the class&rsquo; lab curriculum, lectured, and met with students during office hours. Most recently, Lewis has become interested in the new field of &ldquo;cloud computing&rdquo; and is exploring ways in which computer graphics can use clouds for his PhD dissertation. 

The goal of DFI is to increase the number of minority full-time tenure track faculty and staff at Illinois&rsquo; two- and four-year, public and private colleges and universities. Those students who are selected to receive fellowships are considered most promising, and most likely to make outstanding contributions to their fields of learning. Further information can be found at: 
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.ibhe.state.il.us/DFI/default.htm">www.ibhe.state.il.us/DFI/default.htm</a></li>
<li><a href="http://grad.uic.edu/cms/">grad.uic.edu/cms/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://grad.uic.edu/pdfs/DFIAwardeesAnnouncement.pdf">grad.uic.edu/pdfs/DFIAwardeesAnnouncement.pdf</a></li>
</ul>

PhD student Michael Lewis giving presentation on UIC/EVL&rsquo;s Cyber-Commons tiled display wall.

Michael Lewis Receives DFI Fellowship Support for UIC CS PhD

EVL PhD alumn, Byungil Jeong joins WesternGeco / Schlumberger, Houston as a software engineer in the seismic data visualization group. 

Jeong is mainly responsible for building and enhancing geometric models from seismic data for application into <a href="http://www.slb.com/services/software/geo/petrel.aspx">Petrel</a> Seismic to Simulation Software. 

EVL faculty, staff and students congratulate Jeong on this appointment.

B. Jeong

Jeong Software Engineer at WesternGeco / Schlumberger

UIC&rsquo;s broader outreach efforts extend beyond the campus border. On August 17, EVL research associate JD Pirtle and EVL MS computer science student Dennis Chau partnered to teach a one-day computer programming workshop to 15 Chicago teens as part of The Chicago Code Workshop. The Workshop is a private / non-profit partnership to provide hands-on technology learning experiences to underprivileged kids. 

Selected for the Workshop because of their potential, these high-school students eagerly embraced the principles of programming. First explaining the basics, such as the definition of a &lsquo;variable,&rsquo; Pirtle and Chau then taught the Processing programming language to enable the kids to quickly create images. They continued to add more complexity so that by the end of the day, the students had created simple interactive art applications where mouse inputs moved a shape around on the screen and changed its colors. 
 
While most of us take technology for granted, these students don&rsquo;t have computers at home. Pirtle and Chau learned that many didn&rsquo;t even have email addresses, so they assisted them in getting email accounts. At the conclusion of the Workshop, the students received used laptop computers, courtesy of Getty Images, to continue their learning and exploration. 

By the end of the day, both the students and the teachers had a rewarding experience. &ldquo;Several students knew Facebook, but that was the extent of their use of computers,&rdquo; said Pirtle, &ldquo;so hopefully the workshop encouraged them to pursue computer science or art careers.&rdquo; 

The Chicago Code Workshop, held August 17-18, 2011, was organized by Feltpad Inc. and two local Chicago organizations - i.c.stars and Reason to Give. 

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sczTk2NihKo">See the YouTube video documenting the Chicago Code Workshop</a> 

More information on The Chicago Code Workshop: 
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.feltpad.net/chicago-code-workshop.php">www.feltpad.net/chicago-code-workshop.php</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.landmarkeducationnews.com/2011/08/16/the-chicago-code-feltpad-teams-with-nonprofits-to-provide-computer-training-for-underprivileged-teens-in-chicago/">www.landmarkeducationnews.com/2011/08/16/the-chicago-code-feltpad-teams-with-nonprofits-to-provide-computer-training-for-underprivileged-teens-in-chicago/</a></li>
</ul>

EVL Participates in The Chicago Code Workshop

The 38th annual ACM SIGGRAPH international conference and exhibition on computer graphics and interactive techniques is taking place in Vancouver, Canada, this week (August 7-11, 2011). The Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at University of Illinois at Chicago, working with Calit2 at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), is demonstrating visualization tools and technologies in the King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST) booth. Calit2 has a special partnership agreement with KAUST, with a subcontract to EVL, to pursue advanced visualization technologies. 

Calit2 developed portable 2x2 tiled display walls that fold up into their own shipping cases. Two of these portable optical-network-enabled walls, called &ldquo;OptIPortables,&rdquo; can be connected together to form a 2x4 tiled display wall. Now imagine eight OptIportables arranged in an outward-facing octagon shape (an &ldquo;OctIPortable&rdquo;), which is what UCSD built and shipped to SIGGRAPH, for display in the KAUST booth. One of the 2x4 walls was equipped with a touch screen in order to run EVL software, notably SAGE (Scalable Adaptive Graphics Environment) and other applications, such as EVL&rsquo;s Paint Program. 
 
Audience reaction to EVL&rsquo;s Paint program on Calit2&rsquo;s OptIPortable display has been phenomenal. On Wednesday, August 10, the print version of the Vancouver Sun newspaper, on the front page of its Business section, featured a photo of an attendee drawing on &ldquo;&hellip;an interactive display that has been transformed into a giant canvas by Chicago&rsquo;s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.&rdquo; The online version of the article has 3 pictures (out of 10) of people drawing on the display, saying that &ldquo;convention-goers check out Nvidia&rsquo;s display booth.&rdquo; 

Sadly, KAUST is not in Chicago, and Nvidia, a highly respected visual computing company, was not involved in the creation of KAUST&rsquo;s booth at SIGGRAPH. However, my years of PR training have taught me that &ldquo;ink is ink&rdquo;. In PR, it&rsquo;s most important to get mentioned by the press, and then hope they mention your name, and ultimately hope they spell your name right. And, not only did we get mentioned, but our application was featured!!! 

I&rsquo;ll send out further updates from SIGGRAPH as I learn about them. 
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Videos+SIGGRAPH+conference+animates+Vancouver/5237520/story.html">Vancouver Sun Online Story</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Photos+Siggraph+Convention/5229671/story.html">Vancouver Sun Online Photos</a></li>
</ul> 

For more information on EVL&rsquo;s Paint program, see: 
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.evl.uic.edu/core.php?mod=4&amp;type=4&amp;indi=727">www.evl.uic.edu/core.php?mod=4&amp;type=4&amp;indi=727</a></li>
<li><a href="http://grad.uic.edu/cms/?pid=1000955">grad.uic.edu/cms/?pid=1000955</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/evltube#p/c/4071582316A3714C/7/lq6ShJnwr1Y">www.youtube.com/evltube#p/c/4071582316A3714C/7/lq6ShJnwr1Y</a></li>
</ul>

Arthur Nishimoto, MS Candidate EVL/UIC demonstrates EVL&rsquo;s Paint Program on the Calit2 OptIPortable in the KAUST booth at SIGGRAPH 2011.

EVL&rsquo;s Paint Program a major success at SIGGRAPH 2011

EVL PhD candidate Sungwon Nam presents his preliminary examination for doctoral dissertation: Friday, August 5, 2011, 11AM, EVL Cyber-Commons (2068 ERF) 

Abstract 
A multi-user centric resource scheduler for a large scale display wall environment is proposed. Large scale display walls are used mainly in scientific disciplines. Large display wall environment enables visualization of very large data, providing a crucial means for scientists to see their data. It increases productivity in collaborative working space by allowing users to juxtapose and organize multiple visualizations and access them simultaneously. These large display walls are built by tiling multiple physical displays together, often called tiled display wall. Historically, running a tiled display wall requires computer clustering technology; multiple individual computers are interconnected together providing higher computing capability. With clustering, computational overhead of processing large data can be distributed over multiple computers, and the graphics hardware in an individual computer in a cluster can be concatenated in order to provide a single large display surface over a tiled display wall. With the advent of recent multi-socket, multi-core processor architecture and graphics hardware, a single computer can now drive over a dozen displays. Clustering technology is no longer required in this size of tiled display wall. Driving a tiled display wall with a single computer greatly reduces the cost of ownership and maintenance of a tiled display wall system. This allows benefits of a tiled display wall environment to reach a wider range of users with less cost. However, driving a tiled display wall with a single computer creates challenges in system resource management because the multi-user collaborative working environment, provided by the tiled display wall, allows multiple users to interact simultaneously with multiple applications. Increased overhead incurred by a tiled display wall environment is concentrated in a single computer. Thus effective and efficient system resource utilization is crucial in a large display wall driven by a single computer. Traditional resource scheduling in modern operation systems focused on fair sharing of resources and system-wide job completion throughput can fail to provide perceptual performance expected by users when the system is overloaded. Also, hierarchical memory architecture in modern multi-core processors is not efficiently utilized by operating systems. The proposed research provides a new way of system resource scheduling for a single computer driven large display wall environment.

SAGENext Scheduler

Multi-user Centric Resource Scheduling for a Large Scale Display Wall Environment

The Fall Beyond Tomorrow&rsquo;s Life was shown as part of the show <a href="http://milwaukeeavenueartsfestival.org">Incomplete Sense for the 2011 Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival</a>. This exhibition set out to explore the spectrum of sensory input, and the impact is has on our understanding of reality. More specifically, how does the impairment, interference, or misunderstanding of a stream of sensory information affect a person&rsquo;s understanding of the world? Perception, cognition, and consciousness are intrinsically linked.

Participants interact with Pirtle&rsquo;s The Fall Beyond Tomorrow&rsquo;s Life

The Fall Beyond Tomorrow&rsquo;s Life at the 2011 Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival

On July 11, 2011, the UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) posted a short video of the game Fleet Commander, developed by EVL graduate student Arthur Nishimoto, on its YouTube page. As of today, the video has gone viral - and has more than 275,000 hits! News articles about the video appear in several online publications. 

Fleet Commander, an homage to the epic battles in Star Wars&rsquo; Return of the Jedi, is more than an entertaining game. It is a real-time interactive application developed by Nishimoto to create and test features for the multi-user touch screen overlay that EVL had purchased and installed on its large, tiled display wall, named Cyber-Commons. Access to new large-format display technologies such as Cyber-Commons and new multi-user, multi-touch input devices motivate EVL students to develop new user-interaction techniques and to advance computer science research. By working with applications, EVL students are assured that what they develop is useful and useable to diverse user communities. 

Luke Plunkett, of the publication Kotaku, says &ldquo;Forget everything you know about Star Wars&rsquo; games. The ones that used control pads, mice or keyboards. Because Fleet Commander, a student project, might just blow them all out the airlock&hellip; it&rsquo;s like seeing a childhood dream of the perfect video game come to life.&rdquo; 

Fleet Commander can be viewed on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/evltube#p/a/u/0/6V0o3TjB2Tw">YouTube</a>. 

To date, articles about the game appear in the following publications. 
<ul>
<li><a href="http://kotaku.com/5820231/this-is-the-best-star-wars-game-weve-seen-in-a-long-time">Kotaku</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/07/fleet-commander-star-wars/">Wired.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://boingboing.net/2011/07/12/watch-these-kids-pla.html">BoingBoing</a></li>
<li><a href="http://theforce.net/latestnews/story/StudentMade_Fleet_Commander_Video_Game_139448.asp">TheForce.Net</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/uicnews/articledetail.cgi?id=15543">UIC News</a></li>
</ul> 

Learn more about the game visit <a href="http://sites.google.com/site/arthurnishimoto/fleet-commander">Nishimoto&rsquo;s website</a>. 

While EVL received notoriety in 1977 for helping develop the computer graphics &ldquo;briefing room&rdquo; scene for the first Star Wars&rsquo; movie, today&rsquo;s faculty, staff and students continue to be fans of the Star Wars&rsquo; universe.

EVL students engaging in Fleet Commander on Cyber-Commons

UIC / EVL Fleet Commander Video Goes Viral

time: 2 PM 

Abstract 
In recent years, we have seen a steady increase in the resolution and the amount of collected data that needs to be analyzed or presented. Often, the complexity of the problems that drive this increase requires that multidisciplinary teams work collaboratively towards a solution. Large high-resolution display environments empower users to better cope with this increase in scale and complexity. Although the sheer resolution of such displays facilitates exploration of high-resolution datasets, perhaps an even greater benefit is enabling visual exploration of numerous heterogeneous pieces of information. The benefits in visual analysis over contemporary desktop environments are realized in the two main physical characteristics of such displays. The high resolution enables considerably more information to be displayed simultaneously, which reduces context switching and enables juxtaposing of relevant pieces of information for direct comparison. The large size of such displays makes them an excellent collaborative environment, promotes a more natural physical navigation, and improves spatial performance when analyzing high-resolution datasets. Although of great potential, these affordances alone will not result in increased productivity since our knowledge of desktop systems does not translate well to large sizes and high-resolutions, necessitating new interaction techniques appropriate for wall displays. 

In this dissertation I investigate the issues of input control and display space organization and present suggestions for improvements in single and multi-user usage scenarios. The investigations were aimed at shedding light on two specific questions. First, what is a set of interaction requirements and modalities appropriate for collaborative work across a broad range of wall display use cases? Second, what display space organization techniques and behaviors do users employ in managing a large amount of information on wall displays? Based on observations from a number of real-world use cases, a sample set of tools was developed for addressing the issues of input control and display space organization. Lastly, the observations informed a set of design implications for future advancement of collaborative work in large, high-resolution display environments.

Thesis Document

R. Jagodic interacting with SAGE interface

Collaborative Interaction and Display Space Organization in Large High-Resolution Environments

Jason Leigh, director of the UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory and professor of Computer Science, was recently notified that he has been selected a University Scholar for 2011-2012. 

The University of Illinois created the University Scholars Program to honor and reward outstanding teachers and scholars. Awards are a symbol of the recipient&rsquo;s excellence and the University&rsquo;s commitment to foster outstanding people and their work. Leigh was nominated by his peers and selected from a pool of talented nominees. The honor includes a three-year stipend, to be spent in support of university-related teaching or research. 

This coming academic year, each University of Illinois campus will release an official announcement of the new University Scholars and will host a banquet to recognize this high distinction. 

CONGRATULATIONS, JASON! 

Read more about Jason Leigh in UIC News <a href="http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/uicnews/articledetail.cgi?id=15922">&ldquo;A future not so far-fetched&rdquo;</a>.

Jason Leigh, Director, EVL

Jason Leigh selected as a University Scholar

EVL PhD candidate Khairi Reda presents &ldquo;Visualizing the Evolution of Community Structures in Dynamic Social Networks&rdquo;, Khairi Reda, Chayant Tantipathananandh, Andrew Johnson, Jason Leigh, Tanya Berger-Wolf, Graphs &amp; Networks session, EuroVis 2011, Thursday, June 2nd. 

EuroVis 2011 is the 13th annual Visualization Symposium jointly organized by the Eurographics Working Group on Data Visualization and the IEEE Visualization and Graphics Technical Committee. 

Abstract 
Social network analysis is the study of patterns of interaction between social entities. The field is attracting increasing attention from diverse disciplines including sociology, epidemiology, and behavioral ecology. An important sociological phenomenon that draws the attention of analysts is the emergence of communities, which tend to form, evolve, and dissolve gradually over a period of time. Understanding this evolution is crucial to sociologists and domain scientists, and often leads to a better appreciation of the social system under study. Therefore, it is imperative that social network visualization tools support this task. While graph-based representations are well suited for investigating structural properties of networks at a single point in time, they appear to be significantly less useful when used to analyze gradual structural changes over a period of time. In this paper, we present an interactive visualization methodology for dynamic social networks. Our technique focuses on revealing the community structure implied by the evolving interaction patterns between individuals. We apply our visualization to analyze the community structure in the US House of Representatives. We also report on a user study conducted with the participation of behavioral ecologists working with social network datasets that depict interactions between wild animals. Findings from the user study confirm that the visualization was helpful in providing answers to sociological questions as well as eliciting new observations on the social organization of the population under study.

Visualizing the Evolution of Community Structures in Dynamic Social Networks

EuroVis 2011 Logo

EuroVis 2011

Sudden Loss, a large format digital media display piece created by EVL MFA alumnus (2011) JD Pirtle, is showcased at the Hyde Park Art Center&rsquo;s Jackman Goldwasser Catwalk Gallery - May 27th through June 2nd, 2011. The piece written in Processing evolves over a 7 hour period, changing hourly. Viewers can be immersed in the work from within the Gallery during daylight hours, and from the city streets at dark (8PM).

Exterior view of Sudden Loss

Sudden Loss - Hyde Park Art Center, Jackman Goldwasser Catwalk Gallery

GLIF, the Global Lambda Integrated Facility, announces the availability of new world and regional maps that showcase its advanced research and education multi-gigabit optical network infrastructure. The infrastructure has grown since the original map was created in 2005, with participation from more National Research &amp; Education Networks, consortia, institutions and individual research initiatives, in more countries and continents. These participants provide the physical lambda networks that are interconnected at GLIF Open Lightpath Exchanges, or GOLEs. GOLEs have the equipment necessary to interconnect and establish end-to-end lightpaths, which are used by international research teams who are working together to discover innovative solutions to complex problems of global importance. 

GLIF is a virtual organization or facility of network providers, network engineers, computer scientists and computational scientists who are developing new computing paradigms and cyberinfrastructure, based on optical networks, to enable international multidisciplinary teams to work together. Science has no geographical boundaries, and GLIF&rsquo;s network of interconnected optical wavelengths (also known as &ldquo;lambda grids&rdquo;) is used to dynamically create powerful distributed systems of computers, data storage, visualization displays and instruments at collaborating sites around the globe, making it easier for researchers to share resources, information and knowledge. 

The GLIF map does *not* represent all the world&rsquo;s Research &amp; Education optical networks. The GLIF map also does not show international capacity that is dedicated to production usage. The GLIF map only illustrates *excess* capacity that its participants are willing to share with international research teams for applications-driven and computer-system experiments. GLIF&rsquo;s resource providers agree to share all or part of their lambdas, all or some of the time. GLIF does not provide any network services itself and researchers should approach individual GLIF network resource providers to obtain lightpath services. 

The GLIF Map 2011 visualization was created by Robert Patterson of the Advanced Visualization Laboratory (AVL) at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), using an Earth image provided by NASA with texture retouching by Jeff Carpenter, NCSA. Data was compiled by Maxine D. Brown of the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Support was provided by GLIF, NCSA / UIUC, the State of Illinois, and US National Science Foundation grant # OCI-0962997 to EVL / UIC. 

For more information on GLIF, and to download the world and regional maps in a variety of formats and resolutions, see <a href="http://www.glif.is/publications/maps/">www.glif.is/publications/maps/</a> and <a href="http://www.glif.is">www.glif.is/</a>. 

*Participating Networks* - AARNet Optical Network (Australia), AARNet-SXTransPORT (Australia), ACE (US), AJANet (Germany), AmLight Andes (US / South America), AmLight Central-LEARN-CUDI (US / Mexico), AmLight East / RNP-ANSP-RedCLARA (US / South America), AmLight West (US / Mexico), ASGCNet (Taiwan), AtlanticWave (US), C-Wave (US), CANARIE (Canada), CATLight-i2CAT (Catalonia), CAVEwave (US), CENIC (US), CERN-TIFR (Switzerland / India), CESNET (Czech Republic), CSTNet-GLORIAD (China), CSTNet-NICT (China / Japan), e-Arena-Informica-RUNNet-GLORIAD (Russia), ESnet-SDN (US), EVALSO/REUNA-ESO-RedCLARA (South America), Fermi Lightpath (US), Florida LambdaRail (US), IceLink (Nordic Region / Canada/GLORIAD), IllinoisWave (US), Innova-Red (Argentina). Internet2-ION (US), JGN-X (Japan), KAUST (Saudi Arabia), KOREN-APII-JGN-X (South Korea / Japan), KREONet2-GLORIAD (South Korea), KyaTera-Fapesp (Brazil), LONI (US), MiLR-UltraLight (US). National LambdaRail (US), NORDUnet (Nordic Region), Pacific Wave (US), PIONIER (Poland), RedCLARA-Innova-Red (South America), RedCLARA-RNP-Innova-Red (South America), REUNA (Chile), RNP-CPqD-GIGA (Brazil), RNP-Ipe (Brazil), Southern Light Rail (US), SURFnet (Netherlands), TaiwanLight (Taiwan), Taj-GLORIAD (US / Egypt / India / Singapore), Teraflow (US), TransLight (US), TransPAC3 (US), UltraLight (US), UltraScience Net (US), and US LHCNet (US). 

*Participating GOLEs* - AMPATH (Miami), CERNLight (Geneva), CzechLight (Prague), HKOEP (Hong Kong), KRLight (Daejoen), MAN LAN (New York), MoscowLight (Moscow), NetherLight (Amsterdam), NGIX-East (Washington DC), NorthernLight (Copenhagen), Pacific Wave (Los Angeles, Seattle, and Sunnyvale), SingLight (Singapore), SouthernLight (S&atilde;o Paulo), StarLight (Chicago), T-LEX (Tokyo), and TaiwanLight (Taipei).

GLIF Map 2011

Major update to GLIF maps

EDITOR&rdquo;S NOTE: Jillian Aurisano, a computer science graduate student at the UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) is profiled in this article by Northwestern University journalism student Ashley Cullins. Cullins visited EVL the week of May 2, and decided to feature Aurisano, not only because of her research interests, which combine computer science with biology, but because she&rdquo;s a woman in a field dominated by men. 

Diamonds in the digital rough - female computer scientists shine 
by Ashley Cullins, Medill Reports Chicago, Northwestern University 

May 18, 2011 

Aurisano is a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who is combining computer science and biology at the school&rsquo;s cutting edge Electronic Visualization Laboratory. In a field largely dominated by men, she is a rarity&hellip; She thinks that may be part of the reason there are so few women in the field and referenced studies she has read that analyze why women leave the field or never pursue it in the first place, she said. &ldquo;They feel they don&rsquo;t fit in with people who are more single-minded in their passion about computing.&rdquo; She is thankful the vibe at EVL isn&rsquo;t one-dimensional. &ldquo;People here are interested in a lot of things,&rdquo; Aurisano said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not an atmosphere that encourages having a narrow focus.&rdquo; 

<a href="http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=186381">Read the complete article</a>

Aurisano&rsquo;s biological visualization research on EVL&rsquo;s Cybercommons.

Diamonds in the digital rough - female computer scientists shine

EVL PhD candidate Yu-Chung Chen presents his dissertation Immersive Empathetic Design for Interdisciplinary Collaborations, Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 2pm in the EVL Cyber-Commons. 

Abstract 
Modern scientific discovery requires interdisciplinary collaborations. But it is hard to design a useful system to support this, and it is even harder to design a system for people who are working in a different knowledge domain. The high domain knowledge barrier can make it difficult for a person who is outside the domain to imagine the experience of a user within. This can lead to systems that were designed, implemented, and deployed without sufficient knowledge of the domain they will be used in, leading to a low willingness of users to adopt the new system. The goal is to move beyond collaborative technology showcases in the laboratory to workplace deployments that solve real-world problems. 

In this dissertation I propose the immersive empathic design approach for interdisciplinary collaborations. The proposed method suggests system developers step out of the laboratory environment and be empathic with their new system&rsquo;s potential users&rsquo; through immersive hands-on experience, so the system being designed will better fit the users&rsquo; needs and expectations. The domain knowledge obtained in the immersive experience forms a sustainable common ground between collaboration parties. It affords authentic user experience and more context-sensitive inquires in later design and development activities. 

In the exploratory case study of geological core drilling, computer scientists were embedded in the core drilling workplace setting. On-site hands-on &ldquo;experiential learning&rdquo; and off-site reflection analysis inspired innovations in the workplace setting while still maintaining domain-specific perspective. The CoreWall system designed with the proposed methodology has now been widely used in geological core drilling expeditions around the world, including the National Lacustrine Core Facility, the British Ocean Sediment Core Research Facility, the Antarctica geological drilling project, and on the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program&rsquo;s JOIDES Resolution scientific drilling vessel.

Julian Chen&rsquo;s PhD Dissertation

Immersive Empathic Design for Interdisciplinary Collaborations

EDITOR&rsquo;S NOTE: While several students at the UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) are busy developing OmegaDesk, made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation, two of those students are profiled in a recent article by Northwestern University journalism student Ashley Cullins. Cullins visited EVL the week of May 2, and despite it being finals week, students Dennis Chau and Alessandro Febretti made themselves available to talk with her. Her story not only describes the &ldquo;futuristic&rdquo; visualization display that EVL is developing, but touches on the students&rsquo; enthusiasm for the opportunities that EVL makes possible. 

Not your usual desk job 
by Ashley Cullins, Medill Reports Chicago, Northwestern University 

May 10, 2011 

The Electronic Visualization Laboratory at University of Illinois at Chicago, looks more like a warehouse than a 20th Century Fox studio, but the devices created there seem to be straight out of a Stephen Spielberg film. 

OmegaDesk is a prime example. This tech-driven workspace uses active 3D, touchscreen, infrared motion capture and Microsoft Kinect technologies combined with a custom software system called OmegaLib that unites the individual elements, according to Dennis Chau and Alessandro Febretti, UIC graduate students at EVL. 

<a href="http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=186022">See the complete article</a>

Alessandro Febretti &amp; Dennis Chau - members of the EVL OmegaDesk development team

Not your usual desk job

EVL MFA alumnus, Natt Mintrasak, currently a visual effects technical director with <a href="http://www.digitaldomain.com">Digital Domain</a>, Venice, CA has always been interested and committed towards merging art and technology. Having earned his MFA in electronic visualization at UIC in 2001 where he researched computer graphics and animation with emphasis on virtual reality programming, Mintrasak also began developing extensive technical skills using Maya, Nuke, Photoshop, After Effects, Mental Ray, V-Ray, as well as tools such as Python, shell scripting and MEL. 

Honing these skills over the years, Mintrasak has gained the expertise to contribute both technically and creatively to the visual effects industry, through writing custom code - primarily in Maya - to achieve specific effects or solve production problems, as well as preparing code to design and develop pipeline and tools to improve artists&rsquo; production environments. 

Minstrasak readily admits that some of his most rewarding work comes from troubleshooting technical problems and arriving at a creative solution with a team of fellow artists and technologists, &ldquo;&hellip;like how to properly setup a head chopping animation publish on the 10-headed hydra in Percy Jackson, or creatively bending pillars on decepticon mothership in Transformers.&rdquo; 

Minitrasak&rsquo;s drive towards blending art and technology has earned him animation / pipeline technical director, technical director and assistant technical director, technical assistant and support roles on a number of feature film Hollywood productions over the last several years. Included in the list of Mintrasak&rsquo;s Digital Domain visual effects credits are: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2007-2008), G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2008-2009), Percy Jackson &amp; the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2009-2010), The A-Team (2010-2010). And most recently, <a href="http://www.michaelbay.com">Thor</a> (2010-2011), Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2010-2011), <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7fy4zVrL00">Real Steel</a> (2010-2011). 

<a href="http://www.digitaldomain.com">Digital Domain</a> is an Academy Award winning digital production studio focused on visual effects for feature film and advertising production. Among its 80+ film credits are three features awarded Oscar for visual effects. They are among the industry leaders and pioneers in photo-real digital characters, as well as projects that cross traditional media boundaries. 

Minstrasak is among a number of EVL alumnae working in the FX industry - both production and post-production. EVL&rsquo;s multi-disciplinary approach and commitment towards bringing artists, technologist and scientists together in an educational environment has helped foster unique skill sets that prove very useful in a variety of career paths.

Natt Mintrasak

Merging Art &amp; Technology Earns EVL Alumni Spotlight in Visual Effects Industry

US-Japan Continues Its Formal Collaboration in Advanced Scientific Visualization and Networking 

Continuing a formal collaboration that began in 2006, the University of Illinois and Japan&rsquo;s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NiCT) renewed a Memorandum Of Understanding to exchange information and cooperate in organizing and administering networking experiments to further research of mutual interest. 

More specifically, for many years NICT has been working with the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) on advanced network infrastructure and technologies that utilize this infrastructure. The new Memorandum Of Understanding continues and expands on these collaborative efforts. 

NICT funds JGN-X, an advanced network research testbed that connects Japan to the US. EVL is well connected to StarLight, an international communications exchange in downtown Chicago, from which it can access advanced networks worldwide, including JGN-X. Interest in high-performance networking is what initially motivated EVL to develop SAGE, the Scalable Adaptive Graphics Environment, to share ultra-high-resolution images, animations and video-teleconferencing among collaborators. NICT is a strong supporter and user of SAGE. 

In addition, NICT supports Japan&rsquo;s New Generation Network (NxGN) project, which is similar in scope to the US National Science Foundation (NSF) Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI) program. EVL receives NSF GENI funding for &ldquo;iGENI,&rdquo; or international GENI, along with the International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR) at Northwestern University and the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) at University of California, San Diego. 

Japan&rsquo;s renewal of its Memorandum Of Understanding underscores its confidence in both the technology and the research being conducted by UIC and its partners, as we explore mutual ways to better develop new applications and middleware tools and techniques for optical networks. UIC looks forward to working with its colleagues at NICT for many years to come. 

PHOTO: On June 10, 2010, in Japan, a major event in Osaka to promote it as the Knowledge Capital of Japan featured SAGE Visualcasting demonstrations. Participants included NICT, Osaka University&rsquo;s VisLab, the National Center for High-performance Computing (NCHC) and National Taipei University of Technology (NTUT) in Taiwan, University of Queensland in Australia, and Calit2 in the US. EVL remotely operated the SAGE Wall at Calit2.

VisLab in Osaka

US-Japan Continues Formal Collaboration

The University of Illinois at Chicago released a Public Service Announcement (PSA) promoting advanced visualization research and technologies, featuring EVL with Jason Leigh at its helm. Several areas of emphasis are showcased, current applications highlighted, and collaborations discussed. 

Produced by Production Craft, Inc. in Chicago the video provides a glimpse into one of UIC&rsquo;s science and technology gems.

UIC Releases PSA Featuring EVL

In the new book Infinite Reality: Avatars, Eternal Life, New Worlds, and the Dawn of the Virtual Revolution, Jim Blascovich and Jeremy Bailenson take readers on a journey through the virtual universe. They explore how the applications of this emerging technology have the potential to change human life and society. 

UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory&rsquo;s work in Project LifeLike is highlighted, among other virtual experiences being researched at other institutions, including USC&rsquo;s Institute for Creative Technology, Stanford&rsquo;s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, and University of Washington&rsquo;s HITLab. 

The Wall Street Journal profiled the book in its blog on April 5, 2011. Photos of Alex, both the actual man and his virtual avatar that was created by Project LifeLike, appear in an <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/ideas-market/2011/04/05/infinite-realities/">accompanying slideshow</a>. 

<a href="http://amzn.to/gzo7wb">Book available at Amazon.com</a> 

About Project LifeLike 
Project LifeLike is a collaboration between the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) and Communications Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and the Intelligent Systems Laboratory (ISL) at the University of Central Florida (UCF), and receives major funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). This collaborative research project involves the development of user-friendly natural computer interfaces to enable people to interact with a realistic-looking 3D virtual avatar; more specifically, integrating visualization, natural language processing and knowledge base systems to create a real human-like communication interface. <a href="http://www.evl.uic.edu/core.php?mod=4&amp;type=1&amp;indi=331">More information</a>

Infinite Reality

Infinite Reality: Avatars, Eternal Life, New Worlds, and&hellip;

The article <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/ct-live-0407-disaster-movies-chicago-20110406,0,4640136.story">Trash our city, PLEASE!</a> in the April 7, 2011 edition of CHICAGO TRIBUNE lauds the benefits of having the Second City be destroyed in big special-effects action pictures. Richard Moskal, director of the Chicago Film Office, is quoted as saying: &ldquo;There is clearly a prestige that comes with being worthy of destruction. I doubt it would mean as much if it was New York City or Los Angeles destroyed again. It&rsquo;s a bizarre sense of distinction few cities can claim.&rdquo; Motivation for this article from journalist Chris Borrelli was last summer&rsquo;s filming of the 3rd Transformers movie (to open July 1), and &ldquo;Source Code&rdquo; (which opened last weekend). 

In an accompanying article, <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-live-0407-disaster-movies-sidebar-20110406,0,6217803.story">A series of unfortunate events for Chicago</a>, Borrelli reviews a number of prior disaster stories set in the Midwest - featuring aliens, nukes, weather, grasshoppers and earthquakes! Chicago is, after all, close to the New Madrid fault, so it&rsquo;s not necessarily all science fiction. 

What does the UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) have to do with this, you might ask? While all these stories focus on devastation and post-apocalyptic survival, the TRIBUNE cites EVL&rsquo;s work on <a href="http://www.evl.uic.edu/core.php?mod=4&amp;type=4&amp;indi=731">The Day the Earth Shook</a>, a disaster-preparedness videogame for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. Andy Johnson, UIC EVL and Computer Science associate professor, is quoted in the article, explaining that the goal is to teach children how to survive an earthquake. &ldquo;But the idea was to make it general enough to apply to a number of disasters. We&rsquo;re not used to disasters here. It&rsquo;s been a while since &lsquo;Beginning of the End.&rsquo;&rdquo;

Still from &ldquo;The Day the Earth Shook&rdquo; disaster preparedness videogame created by EVL

Science fiction vs science: Both are featured in Chicago

EVL graduate research assistant, JD Pirtle joins fellow MFA candidates in 2011 Thesis Exhibitions, April 5-30, Gallery 400, University of Illinois at Chicago. 

Pirtle&rsquo;s thesis work The Fall Beyond Tomorrow&rsquo;s Life uses water as a novel interface for the creation of a unique soundscape; as a viewer disturbs the surface of the water, or bends over to look into the sculptural pool, sounds resonate throughout the environment. 
 
All aspects of this project incorporate the use of digital technologies - from design concept, pre-visualization, prototyping, modeling and execution. Pirtle functions equally as an artist, programmer, and creative technologist to focus on visualizations and sonifications that bridge the void between the conventional and technological. 

Exhibition: April 26-30 
Opening reception: April 29, 5-8PM 

<a href="http://www.uic.edu/aa/college/gallery400/01_exhibit.htm">Complete Schedule of 2011 UIC MFA Thesis Shows</a>

Rough &frac14; size prototype of vessel to hold water for Untilted; workflow consists of Maya model exported to Rhino to the CNC wood router.

Pirtle&rsquo;s The Fall Beyond Tomorrow&rsquo;s Life Showcased at MFA Exhibition 2011

EVL research assistant JD Pirtle is joined by fellow UIC New Media Arts (NMA) graduate candidates in a public display of digital works, &ldquo;Screenology&rdquo; at the Hyde Park Art Center, Jackman Goldwasser Catwalk Gallery, March 23 through mid-June, 2011. Works featured, range from time-based video to software art created as part of the NMA seminar on digital media screens and public art led by Daniel Sauter using EVL&rsquo;s CyberCommons. 

The resulting new public digital work will be presented on the Hyde Park Art Center&rsquo;s large-scale digital projection fa&ccedil;ade - the only one in the U.S. dedicated to contemporary art. 

Schedule as listed below has been postponed; please visit the Hyde Park Art Center website for updated dates: 
<ul>
<li>March 23-31: Host, Brittany Ransom</li>
<li>April 1-7: Artificial Horizons, Jon Chambers</li>
<li>April 8-14: Drawings on a Telephone Wire, Joe Pankowski</li>
<li>April 15-21: Visual Ramblings, Jesus Duran</li>
<li>April 22-28: Behold, the Oikoborg!, Chaz Evans</li>
<li>April 29-May 5: Oekologie, Tiffany Funk</li>
<li>May 6-13: Sudden Loss, JD Pirtle</li>
</ul> 

Opening Reception: 
Thursday, March 24th, 6 - 8 PM

Screenology

Screenology: UIC New Media Arts Exhibition

EDITOR&rsquo;S NOTE: I&rsquo;ve heard from several people who were delighted to learn about the retrospective art show &ldquo;Synthesis: Processing and Collaboration&rdquo; that showcased the early days of the UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory - when it was actually called the Circle Graphics Habitat. Although the retrospective has now closed at UCSD, there is a wealth of documentation from the exhibition that traces EVL&rsquo;s almost 40-year history. There is also documentation of Dan Sandin&rsquo;s latest virtual-reality StarCAVE piece, &ldquo;Particle Dreams in Spherical Harmonics.&rdquo; 

For a trip down memory lane and an excellent documentary of the major role that the UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory has played in advancing the new media arts, see: 

<a href="http://gallery.calit2.net">Exhibition Catalog</a> 

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxlnBrTaAfw">Exhibit Video Documentary</a> 
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvMFC2_3iWs">Exhibit Video Walkthrough</a> 
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDYNZ1Yk_Kk">VR &ldquo;Particle Dreams in Spherical Harmonics&rdquo; Video</a> 
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlTZcd8xw1U">Opening Reception Panel Discussion Video</a> 

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/calit2/sets/72157625913986440/">Exhibit Installation Photos</a> 
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/calit2/sets/72157625874886543/">Exhibit Photos</a> 
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/calit2/sets/72157625850866954/">Opening Reception</a>

Dan Sandin, co-founder of the Electronic Visualization Lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Students at the UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) received recognition in both the Honorable Mention and Finalist categories for The Image of Research 2011, an annual interdisciplinary exhibit competition to showcase the breadth and diversity of research at UIC. 

EVL students JD Pirtle, Arthur Nishimoto, Karan Chakrapani, Todd Silvia, and Philip Pilosi, who represent undergraduate and graduate students in both computer science and new media arts, received Honorable Mention for 20 Foot Canvas. The project pays homage to traditional painting, enabling artists to paint on a large-scale digital &ldquo;canvas&rdquo; by touching the wall with fingers or traditional brushes. Using an iPad, artists may select and mix colors as a painter would on a traditional painter&rsquo;s pallet. 

EVL student Ed Kahler, a computer science graduate student, was a Finalist for Cli-Mate, an interactive application that allows climate scientists to view and analyze their data in a multi-touch environment. 

An exhibit featuring the winners and the finalists is currently on display in the lobby of the UIC Daley Library. The winning entries are also on exhibit in the Library of Health Sciences and featured on light pole banners around campus. 

The fourth annual Image of Research competition marks continued recognition of EVL student work since the contest&rsquo;s inception. 

<a href="http://www.evl.uic.edu/core.php?mod=4&amp;type=4&amp;indi=715">2010</a> - 1st Place - Project LifeLike, Sangyoon Lee 
<a href="http://www.evl.uic.edu/core.php?mod=4&amp;type=4&amp;indi=643">2009</a> - Honorable Mention - The Viewer, Julio Obelleiro 
<a href="http://www.evl.uic.edu/core.php?mod=4&amp;type=4&amp;indi=561">2008</a> - 1st Place - Robotic Creatures, AnnMarie Cernoch; 3rd Place - Mariner Valley on Mars, Dmitri Svistula 

<a href="http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/uicnews/articledetail.cgi?id=15240">Read about UIC Image of Research 2011 award winners</a> 
<a href="http://grad.uic.edu/cms/?pid=1000955">Read about 20 Foot Canvas, which received Honorable Mention</a> 
<a href="http://grad.uic.edu/cms/?pid=1000964">Read about Cli-Mate, which was a Finalist</a> 
<a href="http://www.evl.uic.edu/core.php?mod=4&amp;type=4&amp;indi=727">Further information on 20 Foot Canvas</a> 
<a href="http://www.evl.uic.edu/core.php?mod=4&amp;type=1&amp;indi=413">Further information on Cli-Mate</a>

20 Foot Canvas

Science Can Be Beautiful: UIC Image of Research 2011

EVL alumna, Heejoo Kim (MFA 2010) actively showcases her digital media works at the following exhibitions and events for spring 2011. 

The 2nd Annual South Loop Film Festival, April 28th, 2011 features The tight room at the ShowPlace ICON Theatre, 150 W. Roosevelt Rd., Chicago, IL. 

Unwearable Functional Garments II and Paramnesia I screen April 21st and 29th at the ROOT of Contemporary Art Exhibition, Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul, Korea. 

Unwearable Functional Garments II is presented April 27 - May 1, 2011 at <a href="http://www.movementonscreen.org.uk/">moves 11: International Festival of Movement on Screen</a>, 27 South Hill Road, Liverpool, UK. Also, screened at the Terminal Third Annual Short Video Festival, hosted by Austin Peay State University&rsquo;s Department of Art &amp; Center for Excellence April 7, 2011, Clarksville, TN. 

Nominated for the <a href="http://www.FemaleEyeFilmFestival.com">Female Eye Film Festival&rsquo;s</a> Best Experimental Film 2011 Paramnesia I screens - Sunday, March 20, 2011 at the Rainbow Cinemas Market Square, 80 Front Street East, Toronto, Canada.

Still from Paramnesia I

EV MFA Actively Exhibits Digital Artworks

Dan Sandin may be Co-founder and Director Emeritus of the UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) and Professor Emeritus of the UIC School of Art &amp; Design, but his retirement is simply a &ldquo;repriorment&rdquo; as he spends more time creating interactive art and advanced display technologies. Sandin&rsquo;s past and present accomplishments and his philosophy of art and what motivates him are nicely explained in a human interest story written by a science journalism graduate student from Northwestern University&rsquo;s Medill School. 

Visualization pioneer creates virtual worlds 
by Annie Koval 
Medill Chicago Reports 

MARCH 16, 2011 - Dan Sandin, co-founder of the Electronic Visualization Lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago, is a pioneer in electronic visualization and virtual reality. 

Left-brained or right-brained. Dan Sandin leaves such differences in the dust. 

He&rsquo;s both technical and creative. A computer science wiz and an artist. A logical and abstract thinker. 

Sandin, 68, is a pioneer in electronic visualization who helped pioneer virtual reality art. Simply put, computer coding is his palette. 

He found a place to combine his interests in 1973 when he co-founded with Tom DeFanti the Electronic Visualization Lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a graduate research laboratory specializing in advanced visualization, networking technologies and technological art. 

<a href="http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=183397">Read the entire article</a>

Visualization pioneer creates virtual worlds

When we move our body or make a reaching arm movement, it is essential to know where our body is in space with respect to the target or, conversely, where the target is relative to the body. But how do we know that? While our movements happen in the physical world, the planning and control of movement involves internal representations of the body and external space. These representations are formed by multiple networked regions of the brain using information provided by sensors of different modalities. Vision is the major source of information about the external space, while sensors inside the muscles provide a sense of position and movement of the body parts, or proprioception. Finally, one can think of neural commands to muscles as elements of the internal motor space. Thus, planning and control of movement involves multiple levels of processing and transformations both within and between the space representations, e.g., visual-proprioceptive, visual-motor, and proprioceptive-motor. I will review some of the current views of these representations, in particular body schema and body image, and will discuss possible involvement of the subcortical structures, in particular the basal ganglia, in construction of the body schema. I will focus on the effect of Parkinson&rsquo;s disease, which affects information processing in the basal ganglia, on planning and control of voluntary movement, and discuss possible ways to use virtual reality to improve internal representations of the body and space in movement disorders.

Mark B. Shapiro, PhD

Body in space inside the Mind - Multiple representations of the body and space in the brain

EDITOR&rsquo;S NOTE: The Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at University of Illinois at Chicago recently hosted two Northwestern University Medill School graduate students who are majoring in science journalism. Frank Jackson and Annie Koval spent four full days at EVL in fulfillment of their practicum course work. Here is the first of at least two articles they wrote, profiling the Lab&rsquo;s professors, students and research activities. 

Cyberspace wall connects real-time global imaging, conferencing, data 

by Frank Jackson III and Annie Koval 
Medill Reports Chicago, Northwestern University 

FEBRUARY 22, 2011 - SAGE is the heartbeat of a wall of interactive screens where people from around the world can simultaneously run and manipulate videos, images, charts and other applications. SAGE - Scalable Adaptive Graphics Environment - keeps it all humming. The program interconnects various users and wall displays in more than 50 global locations. 

<a href="http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=179303">See the complete article and accompanying video at Medill Reports Chicago</a> 

<a href="http://www.nwitimes.com/business/local/article_923b3ced-98b4-5132-9a2a-7255b92287c9.html">See the same story picked up by the Northwest Indiana Times</a>

EVL Cyber-Commons

Cyberspace wall connects real-time global imaging, conferencing, data

A recent story by Northwestern University Medill School graduate student Frank Jackson III who spent his 4-day practicum at UIC / EVL in February 2011. 

FEBRUARY 18, 2011 - The Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) began developing the OmegaDesk last year, which employs three-dimensional visualizations, multi-touch functionality and motion sensor technology that act in concert for a new data experience. The OmegaDesk is the &ldquo;workspace of the future,&rdquo; said graduate researcher Arthur Nishimoto, because it allows for data to be visualized in multiple ways, as well as manipulated simultaneously. This work is supported by a major grant from the National Science Foundation. 

<a href="http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=179093&amp;terms=omega%20desk">Link to read the full article and see the video</a>

EVL&rsquo;s OmegaDeks with application developers Victor Mateevisti and Yiwen Sun.

The OmegaDesk: Workspace of the future

The CEO of <a href="http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/">Seagate Technology</a>, a leading provider of data storage devices, happened to be watching television one night a few weeks ago and saw Jason Leigh&rsquo;s profile on the NOVA scienceNOW episode of &ldquo;Can We Live Forever?&rdquo;. Duly impressed, Seagate CEO Steve Luczo emailed Leigh, director of the UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) and professor of Computer Science, saying, &ldquo;I saw a program about you on NOVA. I think what you are doing is amazing and I would like to support you with disc drives, as I&rsquo;m sure your applications are storage intensive. No strings attached.&rdquo; 

Leigh requested five storage servers that have a total capacity of 60 Terabytes and a list price of $9,000, which are now on their way to Chicago. Only then did Luczo ask if, when next in Chicago, he could visit EVL and see firsthand the Lab&rsquo;s avatar work. Leigh said he was more than welcome, but added, &ldquo;&hellip;the avatar stuff is only about 10% of what I actually do - but you gotta see it to believe it.&rdquo; 

EDITOR&rsquo;S NOTE: For USA viewers who were unable to see this <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/jason-leigh-avatars.html">episode of NOVA scienceNOW</a>, or who wish to see it again, see the video now posted on the PBS website. 

Read UIC News <a href="http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/uicnews/articledetail.cgi?id=15071">&ldquo;NOVA&rdquo; appearance generates fan mail, gift for avatar project</a> for more detail on the donation to support EVL research.

Seagate Logo

Seagate donates equipment to UIC / EVL after viewing Leigh&rsquo;s profile on NOVA

CENIC, the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California, has announced its 2011 Innovations in Networking Award Winners. CineGrid, an international non-profit research community exploring very-high-quality media applications running over very-high-speed networks, is a recipient of the Innovations in Networking Award, in the category of Experimental / Developmental Applications, in recognition of the CineGrid@Disney demonstration on October 13, 2010. 

This demonstration was the result of a nine-month effort involving more than 50 participants from seven CineGrid member organizations: Disney Studios, NTT Network Innovation Laboratory, Skywalker Sound, Digital Domain, UCSD / Calit2, UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL), and Pacific Interface. EVL director Jason Leigh was one of the demonstration&rsquo;s leaders, and EVL team members included Luc Renambot, Ratko Jagodic, Sungwon Nam, Alan Verlo, Lance Long and Dana Plepys. 

This demo showcased how it is feasible today, using high-speed research networks, to create a real-time fully interactive networked post-production environment for digital cinema using high-quality sound and pictures shared among widely distributed facilities on critical creative tasks. 

Remote collaboration for movie-making and movie-selling is a &ldquo;grand challenge&rdquo; from the CineGrid perspective. There are interdisciplinary and multi-technology integration challenges which are best tackled by a consortium such as was formed by several CineGrid members and Disney for this demo. 

The award will be presented as part of the 2011 CENIC Annual Conference, to be held March 7-9, 2011 at the University of California&rsquo;s Irvine Student Center in Irvine, CA. 

<a href="http://www.cenic.org">For more information, see CENIC&rsquo;s website</a> 

MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE DEMONSTRATION 

The CineGrid@Disney demonstration was held October 13, 2010 in the Frank G. Wells Theatre at Disney studios in Burbank for an internal audience of 100. It included elements that have been the focus of CineGrid partner research for several years, and which in some cases have roots extending more than a decade into the past. 

This demonstration brought together several different creative workflows linking multiple remote locations, into a single room using very-high-quality media running over high-speed networks for interactive, real-time remote collaboration. Specific use cases demonstrated included: 4K/60p telepresence virtual conference room; critical viewing of digitally restored archival film elements at 4K and 2K resolutions streaming from a remote server; Digital Intermediate (DI) color grading; critical viewing of 3D high-definition stereoscopic visual effects; collaborative audio editing and mixing; and, use of EVL&rsquo;s SAGE software and multi-panel display walls for collaborative review of multimedia marketing materials. While most of these use cases involved point-to-point bilateral collaboration, several required triangular collaboration configurations using multicasting. 

EVL&rsquo;s SAGE software enabled remote collaboration between Disney in Burbank and UIC / EVL in Chicago. UCSD / Calit2 shipped a tiled display wall to Burbank for the event. This wall connected over a high-speed network to EVL&rsquo;s Cyber-Commons. Participants shared and discussed marketing materials for the new &ldquo;TRON Legacy&rdquo; movie. 

In addition to the CineGrid member institutions that participated, several CineGrid networking organizations also contributed: CENIC, JGN2, GEMnet, PNWGPOP, and StarLight. EVL is a member of the StarLight management consortium and provides network engineering support. 

Photo caption (right): CineGrid project leaders posing in the auditorium after the successful demonstration. From left to right: Leon Silverman, General Manager of Digital Studio Operations, Walt Disney Studios; Mark Harrah, Executive Director, Post Production, Walt Disney Studios; Jeff Schectman, Senior Vice President of Creative Film Services, Walt Disney Studios; Jason Leigh, Director, Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago; Andy Fowler, Vice President and Senior Visual Effects Producer, Walt Disney Studios; Sara Duran-Singer, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Post Production, Walt Disney Studios; Laurin Herr, President, Pacific Interface Inc.; Phil Benson; Executive, Skywalker Sound, a Lucasfilm Company.

CineGrid project leaders posing in the auditorium after the successful demonstration.

EVL part of award winning CineGrid@Disney demonstration

It is time to join the 21st Century, so EVL has created a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/UIC.EVL">Facebook group: UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory</a>. It is *open* to everyone (students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends). 
<ul>
<li>Please join, and tell your EVL friends and classmates to join.</li>
<li>Post news about your career and possible career opportunities.</li>
<li>Post old photos of EVL and classmates.</li>
</ul> 

EVL announcements will continue to be broadcast to the [EVL-NEWS] email list as well as posted on Facebook. Facebook, however, provides an opportunity for you to comment and add information of your own. 

EVL was founded in 1973 when Tom DeFanti arrived at UIC and started his life-long partnership with Dan Sandin. In a recent article about their new show <a href="http://www.evl.uic.edu/core.php?mod=4&amp;type=4&amp;indi=738">Synthesis: Processing and Collaboration</a>, when asked how long they have been collaborating, Tom responded &ldquo;Thirty-seven-point five [years]&hellip; Three-eights of a century exactly.&rdquo; Throughout those years, EVL has had a big impact on many people&rsquo;s lives, and many people have contributed to EVL&rsquo;s successes. Facebook gives us an opportunity to capture testimonials of years past, and to provide a forum to inspire and mentor new students for generations to come. Please join! 

We look forward to seeing how this social networking experiment evolves!

EVLers in front of the first generation LambdaVision system prior to dismantling in 2010.

UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory on Facebook

Guest speaker Aaron Knoll presents his research of &ldquo;Fast CPU Volume Rendering with Coherent BVH Traversal&rdquo; at EVL&rsquo;s tech meeting, Wed 1/26/11, 11am. 

Abstract 
We present an efficient method for volume rendering by raycasting on the CPU. We employ coherent packet traversal of an implicit bounding volume hierarchy, heuristically pruned using preintegrated transfer functions, to exploit empty or homogeneous space. We also detail SIMD optimizations for volumetric integration, trilinear interpolation, and gradient lighting. The resulting system performs well on low-end and laptop hardware, and can outperform out-of-core GPU methods by orders of magnitude when rendering large volumes without level-of-detail (LOD) on a workstation. We show that, while slower than GPU methods for low-resolution volumes, an optimized CPU renderer does not require LOD to achieve interactive performance on large data sets. 

Bio 
Aaron Knoll is a Computational Postdoc Fellow with the Futureslab visualization group in Mathematics and Computer Science at Argonne National Laboratory. He received his MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Essex in the UK, and his PhD in Computer Science in 2009 from the SCI Institute at the University of Utah. Previously, he worked in game development, and in the graphics research group at Intel Corporate Technology Group (CTG). His research interests include volume visualization, interactive ray tracing, and combining visualization and analysis in large-scale scientific computing.

A. Knoll

Fast CPU Volume Rendering with Coherent BVH Traversal

Your body can&rsquo;t live forever, says computer scientist Jason Leigh, but your mind still can - as an avatar. Leigh, a professor in the Department of Computer Science and the director of the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has a novel way to achieve immortality - by creating a lifelike avatar of himself. 

Leigh is profiled on the NOVA scienceNOW episode of &ldquo;Can We Live Forever?&rdquo;, which airs January 26, 2011, on PBS television. Check your local listings for the exact time. 

The show&rsquo;s host, Neil deGrasse Tyson, examines whether we can slow down the aging process, looks at the latest on human hibernation, and takes a lighthearted look at whether the tricks that have kept a 1966 Volvo running for 2.7 million miles can also help the human body go the extra mile. One segment profiles Leigh and Project LifeLike, in which Leigh and his students are pioneering avatar technology that will allow individuals to impart their wisdom, humor, and unique insight long after they are gone. (We are told that the segment is second to last in this episode.) 

The NOVA scienceNOW production crew first visited EVL in December 2009 and returned in January 2010 for three grueling days of filming. They wanted to get to know Jason both professionally and personally, in order to better understand what excites him and feeds his creative thought processes. It will be interesting to see how 30+ hours of video shot on location will be condensed for a 10-minute TV segment! Leigh is one of several young researchers being profiled as part of this PBS series, with the goal of inspiring teenagers and young adults to pursue careers in science and engineering. 

<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/jason-leigh-avatars.html">View the scienceNOW segment profiling Jason Leigh</a> 

For more information, see: 
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/can-we-live-forever.html">www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/can-we-live-forever.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/jason-leigh-avatars.html">www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/jason-leigh-avatars.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=11095034&amp;cp=1378003.1412584&amp;parentPage=family#Details">www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=11095034&amp;cp=1378003.1412584&amp;parentPage=family#Details</a></li>
</ul> 

About Jason Leigh 
Jason Leigh is a Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) and the Software Technologies Research Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Some of the current and prior projects and research for which he is best known include: LifeLike, Cyber-Commons, SAGE, OptIPuter, GeoWall, CoreWall, LambdaVision, Tele-Immersion, and Reliable Blast UDP. His current research focuses on ultra-resolution display-rich collaboration environments amplified by high-performance computing and networking. Leigh also teaches computer science courses in Video Game Design and Development, and in Software Design. 

About Project LifeLike 
&ldquo;Project LifeLike&rdquo; is a collaboration between the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) and Communications Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and the Intelligent Systems Laboratory (ISL) at the University of Central Florida (UCF), and receives major funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). This collaborative research project investigates, develops and evaluates lifelike, natural computer interfaces as portals to intelligent programs in the context of a Decision Support System (DSS). The goal of this effort is to provide a natural interface that supports realistic spoken dialog and non-verbal cues that is capable of learning to keep its knowledge current and correct. Research objectives focus on the development of an avatar-based interface with which the DSS user can interact. Communication with the avatar will occur in spoken natural language combined with gestural expressions or pointing on the screen. Speaker-independent continuous speech input as a spontaneous dialog will be supported within the specified DSS domain. A robust backend that can respond intelligently to the questions asked by the DSS user will generate the responses spoken in reply by the avatar with realistic inflection and visual expressions. 

<a href="http://www.evl.uic.edu/core.php?mod=4&amp;type=1&amp;indi=331">More information on &ldquo;Project LifeLike&rdquo;</a>

Jason Leigh and his avatar

PROFILE: UIC / EVL&rsquo;S JASON LEIGH ON PBS

SYNTHEISS PROCESSING &amp; COLLABORATION is a retrospective art show by new media art pioneers Dan Sandin and Tom DeFanti, covering a collaboration that started 37 years ago and continues today. Sandin and DeFanti began working together in 1973 when they met at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), where they founded the Electronic Visualization Laboratory, and are now directors emeriti. The show can be seen at gallery@calit2, on the campus of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), from January 14 through March 11, 2011. 

Sandin is now a part-time consultant and DeFanti is a full-time research scientist at the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) at UCSD. Throughout their careers, Sandin and DeFanti have invented new ways of artistic mediation - through an ongoing process of collaboration where the synthesis of art, engineering and science have led to new methodologies that influenced the creation of the field of new media art. 

The show features videos from the 1970s containing image processing art works and interviews with the collaborators. Also on display is an original Sandin Image Processor (IP), early video camera equipment, and photos from 1970s&rsquo; performances and events. In addition to the old, this exhibition also marks the debut of a new virtual-reality installation entitled &ldquo;Particle Dreams in Spherical Harmonics.&rdquo; 

For information about the SYNTHEISS PROCESSING &amp; COLLABORATION exhibition, see <a href="http://gallery.calit2.net/portal/">gallery.calit2.net/portal/</a> and <a href="http://www.calit2.net/events/popup.php?id=1815">www.calit2.net/events/popup.php?id=1815</a>. 

The <a href="http://www.sdcitybeat.com/sandiego/article-8613-a-visual-revolution.html">San Diego Citybeat</a> newspaper reviews the show and provides a very personable interview with the principals, Sandin and DeFanti, where they talk about their 37 year collaboration. 

If you are interested in seeing the show but unable to travel to San Diego, check out on the gallery&rsquo;s webcam at <a href="http://gallery.calit2.net/live.php">gallery.calit2.net/live.php</a>.

Dan Sandin and The IP

Sandin / DeFanti retrospective: SYNTHESIS PROCESSING &amp; COLLABORATION

Are you interested in learning a cool 3D-touch technology? 

EVL collaborator, Research Assistant Professor Cristian Luciano (MIE) introduces UIC&rsquo;s first hands-on course on haptics (or the sense of touch) and augmented reality. You&rsquo;ll learn how to successfully combine high-level 3D graphics, haptics, collision detection and physics-based dynamic simulation for a more realistic interactive experience. You&rsquo;ll be able to easily develop virtual reality applications to visualize and feel holographic-like virtual objects for engineering, medical, dental and scientific simulation and training. 

Multiple SensAble Technologies&rsquo; Omni haptic devices and PC workstations will be available for the students to develop the projects. 

Time: MW, 4:30 PM - 5:45 PM 
Place: 3290 SEL 
Pre-requisites: None 
Recommended for: Grads and undergrads 

Also, see: 
<a href="http://www.mie.uic.edu/MIE/WebHome">Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department News</a> 
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chicago-IL/UIC-College-of-Engineering/282582792165">UIC College of Engineering on Facebook</a> 
<a href="http://twitter.com/UICEngineering">twitter UIC Engineering</a>

ImmersiveTouch&trade; Augmented Reality Simulator

IE 494: Haptics &amp; Augmented Reality

EVL PhD candidate, Yu-Chung Chen shares his research and experiences collaborating with scientists and domain experts in developing visualization applications and tools at the 44th Hawaii International Conference on Systems Science, Koloa, Kauai. As part of the Workshop on Changing Dynamics of Scientific Collaboration, Chen presents &ldquo;Cross-Cultural Collaboration Case Studies,&rdquo; describing case studies and lessons learned from cross-cultural collaborations, designing and developing systems for geological core drilling and medical hand-off. 

<a href="http://conway.isri.cmu.edu/hicss2011-sci-workshop/">Additional Workshop Details</a>

Events - 2011

Future World: EVL... where the clock is always 15 years fast

Future Me - Human Augmentics for Sustained Wellbeing Sustained Wellbeing

Cyber-Commons - A High Resolution, High Bandwidth, Collaborative Lens for Focusing Attention to Solve Data-rich Problems

Educational Research Visualizations & Scientific Digital Journalism Presentation

LEARNING IN 3D

SC11 SAGE Meeting: Scalable Adaptive Graphics Environment for Global Collaboration

Contact