Pan-American Advanced Studies Institute on Methods in Computational Discovery for Multidimensional Problem Solving; Universidad del Valle, Guatemala, July 2013

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This Pan-American Advanced Studies Institutes (PASI) award, jointly supported by the NSF and the Department of Energy (DOE), will take place July 2013 at the Universidad del Valle in Guatemala. Organized by Dr. Marshall S. Poole, Professor in the Department of Communications at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, the PASI aims to introduce junior researchers to methods in computation-based discovery (CBD). In searching for solutions to major problems (e.g., biodiversity, modeling of natural systems, water ecology, and others), researchers across the natural and social sciences as well as the humanities and arts are generating massive and/or highly complex data sets that extend well-beyond humans' capacities to perceive or analyze without sophisticated technological augmentation. CBD allows researchers to gather, transform, and analyze data from a range of sources, including, for example, sensors, video archives, telescopes, and supercomputers. Thus, access to advanced computational resources and also to sophisticated skills in data acquisition, management, transformation, visualization, analytics, and preservation, are highly valued by researchers. For example, sophisticated visualization tools and techniques enhance human understanding of extreme, complex and/or abstract data sets, making it easier to see patterns and relationships and to form or test hypotheses.The Institute will focus on CBD technical and analytical methods and help investigators apply these to their own research. Key goals are to (1) expand participants' knowledge of high performance computing (HPC) and specialized tools and techniques that support CBD involving massive or complex data sets; (2) provide hands-on experience in exploring large and complex data sets using easily accessible desktop open source tools; (3) bring researchers from underrepresented populations into the CBD field; and (4) foster new collegial partnerships that stimulate both national and international co-operative research among the presenters and attendees. In addition, the PASI will also provide up-to-date information on the deliberations of the PASI to a wider audience through a web page to disseminate results and reports of the meeting.