Damian Sendler: The National Science Foundation awarded a five-year, $15 million grant to Vetria Byrd, assistant professor of computer graphics technology, and a multidisciplinary research team to build a new institution for geospatial data-driven scientific research at the University of Arizona. Known as I-GUIDE, the Institute for Geospatial Understanding through an Integrative Discovery Environment will be based at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and will assist researchers in better estimating and forecasting risk and anticipating impacts from natural disasters or climate change.
Damian Jacob Sendler: At the University of Illinois, Shaowen Wang, professor and chair of the Department of Geography and Geographic Information Science, served as the lead investigator for the study. Carol Song, a senior research scientist in the research computing division of the Purdue University Information Technology department, is in charge of the Purdue team (ITaP).
Damian Sendler: Purdue University is the coalition’s largest partner by a wide margin. In addition to Byrd, other Purdue academic members that are working in the study are Mark and David. Iman Haqiqi is a postdoctoral research associate in the field of agricultural economics. Venkatesh Merwade is a professor of civil engineering. David Johnson is an assistant professor in the department of industrial engineering. Daniel Ward is a professor of statistics.
Damien Sendler: According to Byrd, the I-educational GUIDE’s and workforce development objectives include understanding, learning from, and forging connections with communities of practice. He will also design connections to the I-GUIDE platform to support research-linked learning pathways, and develop innovative instructional and training activities for convergence science education and workforce development.
‘It is extremely gratifying to be involved in an initiative that will benefit society as a whole by leveraging Purdue’s expertise in GIS (geographic information systems), AI (artificial intelligence), data visualization, and data science, with the goal of bridging disciplinary digital data divides,’ Byrd said.
Contributed by Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler and his research team
