Peter Fox Talk, 2008-05-14

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Event Info [ Edit ]
Type	Tetherless Event, Colloquium
Title	Peter Fox Talk, 2008-05-14
Location	Lally 102
When	2008/05/14 10:00:00 AM - 2008/05/14 11:00:00 AM
Abstract
Webpage
More Details (out-links) Speaker(s) Peter Fox Known participant(s) James A. Hendler, Deborah L. McGuinness, Li Ding, Jie Bao, Cynthia Chang, Alvaro Andres Graves Fuenzalida, Debbie Heisler, Gregory Todd Williams, James Michaelis, Jiao Tao, Medha Atre, Xixi Luo What Links Here (in-links)

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       TETHERLESS WORLD RESEARCH CONSTELLATION COLLOQUIUM


                         Dr. Peter Fox
                 Chief Computational Scientist
High Altitude Observatory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research


         Semantic Data Frameworks: The Ins and Outs of Current
               Earth and Space Science Informatics


In the past decade, the emergence of high volume, heterogeneous data
sources arising as a result of new observational methods, detectors, and
computer technology has led to the adoption of both new paradigms and
technical approaches in acquiring, managing and distributing data and
information products to diverse audiences.  Increasingly, researchers are
being challenged to advance scientific understanding using either complex
disciplinary or interdisciplinary data holdings and more and more often,
data from both observations and models that they may not have generated.
Terms such as virtual, integrated, distributed, interdisciplinary,
non-specialist and multi-stakeholder present a panolopy of both technical
and non-technical challenges.

What has emerged is a natural layering of modern cyberinfrastructure built
on now (almost) commodity information technology. However, the translation
of science needs and functionality of what are commonly called
'data systems', have had variable success in sustainably utilizing the
still evolving cyberinfrastructure.

This talk will present context, introduce and define concepts, and
highlight the growing awareness that informatics is a key linking element
between science and cyberinfrastructure.  Using a few examples, we will
cover the problem and accompanying implemented solutions, such as details
on semantic web and related methodologies and technologies.  The talk will
conclude with a discussion of, that taken together, how an emerging set of
collected experience manifests an emerging semantically-enabled informatics
core capability that is starting to take data intensive science into a new
realm of realizability and potentially, sustainability.  Pointers to
implementations, including one deployed system in use by a community of
1000 scientists, will be included as examples of operational specifications
of the new paradigm.

As Chief Computational Scientist at the High Altitude Observatory of the
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Fox's  research specializes in the
fields of solar and solar-terrestrial physics, computational and computer
science, information technology, and grid-enabled, distributed semantic data
frameworks.  This research utilizes state-of-the-art modeling techniques,
internet-based technologies, including the semantic web, and applies them to
large-scale distributed scientific repositories addressing the full
life-cycle of data and information within specific science and engineering
disciplines as well as among disciplines.  Fox is currently PI for the
Virtual Solar-Terrestrial Observatory, the Semantically-Enabled Scientific
Data Integration, Semantic Provenance Capture in Data Ingest Systems and the
CEDAR database projects.  Fox has spent over 22 years bridging science and
distributed data and information systems to support community activities
utilizing use case driven design.  Fox leads working groups for: Virtual
Observatories for the Electronic Geophysical Year, semantic web for NASA
technology infusion as well as the Earth Science Information Partnership
federation, is vice-chair of the AGU Special Focus Group on Earth and Space
Science Informatics, is an associate editor for the Earth Science
Informatics journal, is a member of the editorial board for Computers in
Geosciences and lead editor for the AGU monograph Virtual Observatories in
Geosciences currently in preparation.  Fox is a member of the ad-hoc
International Council for Science's Strategic Committee for Information and
Data.  Fox also currently serves as President for the not-for-profit Open
source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol (OPeNDAP).

For more information about the speaker go to http://web.hao.ucar.edu/~pfox

Hosts:  James Hendler (x4401) and Deborah McGuinness (x4404)


                     Wednesday, May 14, 2008
               Lally 102 - 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
                     Refreshments at 9:30 a.m.