Collaborative Research: ABI Development: RUI: From Data to Knowledge in Grand Challenge Environmental Science Research: VISTAS

美国长青州立学院和俄勒冈州立大学（OSU）被授予在vista项目上合作开发可视化分析软件的资助，该软件将使科学家能够更好地理解和交流跨越时空尺度的大型复杂环境问题。这项研究将帮助科学家了解相同和不同尺度的生态过程之间的关系，发展新的可测试的假设，并解释研究结果。该项目有三个目标：1)开展生态信息学研究，以实现所需的可视化分析，并实施概念验证软件工具：陆地-水生系统可视化（vista）。2)与环境科学家共同开发远景系统，他们将在空间和时间尺度上使用远景系统进行研究。3)应用社会科学方法研究vista及其可视化分析的协同开发和可用性。项目负责人还将召集一个六人小组，西北计算机科学联盟，以加强气候变化研究，该小组将为vista的科学家和开发人员提供建议，并在适用于环境科学的研发方面招募计算机科学研究社区。vista项目将对环境科学研究产生广泛影响，其长期愿景是通过可视化分析改善基于证据的自然资源管理实践。该项目将确保研究成果和工具开发的传播、技术转让和可持续性，并将具体包括：1)超出正常传播渠道（学术出版和展示）的成果技术转移，即向自然资源管理者和政策制定者、科学软件生产者、为科学家服务的信息管理者和计算机科学家传达成果（从而鼓励在有利于科学软件开发的领域进行基础研究，并导致在科学和其他领域有用的新技术）。2)向自然资源管理者和政策制定者以及专业硕士生介绍科学家使用vista的情况。3)让本科生和研究生参与研究，并利用这项工作的材料加强我们机构的环境科学和计算机科学教育。4)继续过去成功传播跨学科教育材料，并将这项工作的可视化内容整合到现有的中学女生项目中。由于超越时间和空间尺度的方法尚未得到很好的理解，该项目将确定以新的方式可视化自然现象是否有助于科学家在多个空间尺度上发展直觉和假设——在复杂的环境系统中形成关于生态系统服务、模式和过程的新见解。同样重要的是，可视化还可以帮助科学家与非科学家交流见解。有关该项目的更多信息可在web上获得：http://blogs.evergreen.edu/vistas

The The Evergreen State College and Oregon State University (OSU) are awarded grants to collaborate on the VISTAS project to develop visual analytics software that will enable scientists to better understand and communicate about large and complex environmental problems spanning spatial and temporal scales. The research will help scientists understand relationships among ecological processes at the same and different scales, develop new testable hypotheses, and explain research results. The project has three objectives: 1) Conduct Ecology Informatics research to enable the required visual analytics and implement a proof of concept software tool: VISualization of Terrestrial-Aquatic Systems (VISTAS).2) Co-develop VISTAS with environmental scientists who will use VISTAS in studies spanning spatial and temporal scales. 3) Apply social science methods to study the co-development and usability of VISTAS and its visual analytics. The project leaders will also convene a six-member panel, The Northwest Computer Science Consortium to Enhance the Study of Climate Change, which will advise VISTAS scientists and developers, and enlist the CS research community in R&D applicable to environmental science. VISTAS project will broadly impact environmental science research with a long term vision to improve evidence-based practice of natural resource management with visual analytics. The project will assure dissemination, technology transfer, and sustainability of research results and tool development and will specifically include: 1) Technology transfer of results beyond normal dissemination channels (scholarly publication and presentation), i.e., communication of results to natural resource managers and policy makers, producers of scientific software, information managers serving scientists, and computer scientists (thus encouraging basic research in areas that would benefit scientific software development and lead to new technology useful in science and beyond). 2) Presentation of scientists' use of VISTAS to natural resource managers and policy makers, and to professional master's students. 3) Involving undergraduate and graduate students in research, and enhancing environmental science and computer science education at our institutions with materials from this work. 4) Continuation of past successful dissemination of interdisciplinary educational materials and integration of visualizations from this work into an existing program for middle school girls. Because methods to transcend time and spatial scales are not well understood, this project will determine if visualizing natural phenomena in new ways helps scientists develop intuition and hypotheses at multiple spatial scales -- formulating new insights about ecosystem services, and patterns and processes, in complex environmental systems. As important, visualizations also help scientists communicate insights to non scientists. Additional information about the project is available on the web: http://blogs.evergreen.edu/vistas