Speaker: Rachael Brady, Senior Research Scientist in CS at Duke University
Date: Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Time: 11:00am-12:00pm
Location: 2202 Kraft Drive, Room 1110

Abstract:
The Duke NSF-funded DiVE has been up and running for over five years.  The facility was installed to enable three application areas: cognitive experiments, scientific visualization, and educational experiences.  Launching projects in the field of cognitive science is challenging because the use of VR methods is new and generally unverified, so our initial work has been to test and cross correlate human behaviors in the DiVE to human behaviors on known, standard, cognitive tests.  I will present our progress to date on two projects: a Fear, Memory and Context project in collaboration with Nicole Huff and Kevin LaBar and an Emotion Reactivity and Escape project in collaboration with Zach Rosenthal.

Short Bio:
Rachael Brady is the Director of the Visualization Technology Group at Duke University and a Senior Research Scientist of Computer Science, Senior Research Scientist in the Pratt School of Engineering and Adjunct Associate Professor of Visual Studies.  Professor Brady is interested in how technology can aid data exploration and analysis. She began her career by designing signal detection algorithms and creating remote instrument control systems for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence projects at UC Berkeley and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In 1990, Brady began work on interactive volume rendering and image analysis software for use in biological and medical data at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). During her time at NCSA, Brady became interested in the power of virtual reality as an interface for three-dimensional data. She co-authored the Crumbs volume rendering virtual reality software that has been used by biologists, astrophysicists, geologists, architects, and dancers. Brady joined the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke in September 2001, where she provides scientific visualization expertise to colleagues at Duke.  Brady's current research focuses on applying virtual reality technology to cognitive science and scientific visualization problems as well as applying visualization technologies to architectural history research and teaching projects. She has been actively involved in the visualization community for 18 years and is currently serving on the IEEE vgtc, the IEEE VisWeek committee, and the IEEE VisWeek Executive Committee.