NC State University
		     Computer Science Department


     Effective Visualization of Large, Multidimensional Datasets

			  Christopher Healey
		 University of California - Berkeley

			 Thursday, January 29
			       3:30 pm
			     Withers 402A

			       Abstract

My primary research area is computer graphics, specifically the
investigation of methods for rapidly and accurately visualizing large,
multidimensional datasets. The "domain of visualization" includes the
development of specific applications, the development of general
purpose tools, and the study of research problems that arise as a
result.

During my talk I will discuss my approach to visualizing large,
multidimensional datasets. My results include research from a number
of related areas like computer graphics, databases, and cognitive
psychology. To date, I have investigated two aspects of the
multidimensional visualization problem. First, I studied new methods
for visually representing multidimensional data. These techniques
address the problems of dataset size and data element dimensionality
by exploiting the built-in processing of the human visual system. I
documented new exploratory analysis tasks which can be performed by
the low-level visual system, showed how perception and graphics can be
used to choose effective colors for visualization, and described how
these theoretical results can be applied to practical visualization
environments. Second, I studied the effectiveness of a new database
technique, knowledge discovery, for compressing and summarizing the
important details buried in large datasets. I provided a direct
comparison of four different algorithms, and showed how each algorithm
can be extended and integrated into a visualization environment.

I will begin with an overview of each of these areas of
investigation. I will also show how results from each area combine to
address the problem of multidimensional data visualization. I will
provide a more detailed description of how we choose colors for use
during visualization, to provide an example of how issues in graphics
and cognitive psychology can impact research in scientific
visualization. During all of this I will describe examples of how we
have applied our theoretical results to real-world visualization
problems. These include the analysis of sockeye salmon migration
simulations, the display of abdominal aortic aneurisms, and the
filtering and display of environmental conditions on topographical
maps.

   For more information on any of these topics, please visit my homepage at
http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~healey.

Host:  Alan Tharp

Note:  Faculty Candidate