Morning Plenary Session 3
| Title: | Cyberinfrastructure Enabling Frontier Research and Education | Speaker: | Robert Wilhelmson, Chief Scientist and Associate Director of Cyber Applications and Communities, National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and Professor of Meteorology, Department of Atmospheric Sciences – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) |
| Time: | 9:30-10:30AM |
| Locations: | Camden - Executive Meeting Room - Camden Campus Center Newark - MPR West - Robeson Campus Center New Brunswick - MPR - Busch Campus Center  |
| Presentation Details: | Recent initiatives have set the stage for expanded deployment and adoption of cyberinfrastructure as a critical component in advancing research and educational programs. Dr. Wilhelmson will address some of the many cyberinfrastructure technologies in the form of cyberenvironments and cyberservices that are being developed in partnership with scientific, engineering, humanities, and social science communities. |
| Speaker Bio: | Robert Wilhelmson received his M.S. (1969) and Ph.D. (1972) in computer science from the UIUC in the areas of computer software and numerical analysis, respectively. During and after completing his Ph.D., he has been involved in the development and use of numerical models to study the behavior of atmospheric convection including storms. Initial studies were focused on the general structure and evolution of severe storms and squall lines with some of his simulations among the first carried out remotely using a network (ARPANET, a predecessor to today’s Internet). With increased computer power he and his group have been able to simulate and study in detail their attendant features such as gust fronts and tornadoes.
He also has a keen interest in computational science as a whole, having participated in the establishment, operation, and use of NCSA facilities in 1985. Dr. Wilhelmson has been involved in a number of high performance computing activities to visualize the billions of numbers from fluid flow simulations, to effectively use parallel computers, to distribute numerical computations among heterogeneous computers, and to teach numerical methods to students. He has also been involved in digital library and collaborative scientific/education tool development projects including the NASA funded HORIZON Project whose goal was to enhance digital library technology to support easy to use and scalable public access for locating, moving, and analyzing both earth and space science data. Dr. Wilhelmson led the scientific effort at NCSA which used model data to produce the award winning animation (e.g. nominated for an Academy Award) entitled "Study of a Numerically Modeled Severe Storm." It has been used in many national and international exhibits, museums, and science shows, and stills from it have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers as well as on many covers. More recently, he has been scientific lead on other model visualization efforts that depict severe storm and tornadic behavior for the OMNIMAX film "Stormchasers" and the new NOVA show “Hunt for the Supertwister.” Dr. Wilhelmson has served as Head of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois and as Assistant and Associate Directors at NCSA. Currently he heads the Cyber Applications and Communications Directorate at NCSA. |
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