Visual data analysis is central to the scientific knowledge discovery process. To meet the challenges of visualization for future data sets, UCSC intends to play a leading role in bringing sophisticated visualization tools to the science community. UCSC’s space scientists will provide cutting-edge, scientific simulations which will serve as raw material for research collaborations between digital-art students and computational science students.
The proposed program will also conduct an aggressive knowledge transfer program, providing the broader public with the opportunity to do and see space sciences. The visual appeal of astrophysics simulations will be used as a tool to engage students in research, develop high school curriculum materials, connect communities as disparate as space sciences and the visual arts, and disseminate the scientific messages of the via partnerships with three distinguished high schools, Planetaria, the NASA Ames Hyperwall, GalaxyZoo, and Google Sky.
Partner arts programs include UCSC’s MFA in Digital Arts and New Media and UCSC’s top-ranked program in Science Communications. This basic design advances diversity by linking two very different communities, applied computational science, and digital arts. Including the latter field, better balanced with regard to gender and ethnicity, will immediately create a more diverse and vibrant student body. Engaging students in exciting projects that link these two communities will further strengthen these bonds.