Modeling and Visualization in Computationally-Intensive Science

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With matching funds from the National Science Foundation and the University of Maryland, Dr. Frederick Suppe will purchase a Silicone Graphic UNIX scientific workstation. This will permit him to analyze data collected during a year-long study of Princeton University's Structural Geology group. Dr. Suppe is an historian of science and wishes to understand how the process of scientific discovery works. He has noted that today much research does not proceed in a standard theory driven context but rather proceeds through the construction of models which derive from the computer analysis of very large masses of data. Data are reduced, refined and manipulated by further modeling. The end-products are increasingly in the form of models and not theories. Dr. Suppe notes that the philosophy of science has paid relatively little attention to such contemporary modeling practices. Since 1991 Dr. Suppe has been studying computationally intensive science and how massive data sets are changing the way science is done. He has worked as a participant, observing a Princeton structural geology group which utilizes extremely large data sets and search for patterns using computer visualization techniques. During the period of study, the group refuted the prevailing models of Venus by showing that the planet is geologically active today. In the course of this work, Dr. Suppe has amassed a large set of electronic data and with the NSF provided equipment he will trace the discovery process using them. This work is important because it will shed new light on the research process.