8/21/2006
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it has received another grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE). VISC will be extending its work on metadata to include the Pennsylvania Safe Schools Program.

8/21/2006
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that Katherin Peperzak, who was a visitor at VISC from the medical school last term has had her poster on Pathology Visualization awarded the Best Scientific Poster in Pathology Informatics at the Advancing Practice, Instruction and Innovation through Informatics (APIII) Conference, 2006, in Vancouver, B.C.
Katherin is also a member of the Visualization Interest Group sponsored by VISC.

8/9/2006
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that Matt Duncan, Matt Kelley and Jeff Jacobson have published a paper in the latest issue of Computer Graphics from the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) based on the work that Matt Duncan did while he was a visitor in the VISC Lab.
Matt Duncan is a student at Yorktown High School in Alexandria Virginia. As a senior project, Matt spent time last term as an intern in the VISC Lab. One of his projects was to help Jeff Jacobson with experiments on navigation of VR models.
Of special note is the fact that the ACM selected one of the paper graphics as the illustration on the front cover of the issue.
Link: http://www.siggraph.org/publications/newsletter/volume-40-number-2/
Article: High School Graduate Refines Gyromouse Interface For Virtual Reality

6/19/2006
The Center for National Preparedness is pleased to announce that it has been featured in an article in the latest issue of Pitt Magazine. The article describes the Center and its interrelationship with other Pitt schools/departments. Scans of the article are attached.

6/11/2006
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that Dr. Melonie Nance who is a visiting researcher at VISC investigating the use of visualization to discover patterns in cancer patient records is interviewed in a recent issue of Family Practice News. Dr. Nance was interviewed regarding medical errors and electronic patient record systems.

6/11/2006
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that Jeff Pferdehirt, a student in Ken Sochats' IS1014 Computer Graphics Class and now a GSR in the VISC lab has won an award from Pittsburgh Art Works for his 'Work of Art' in the Computer Graphics class.
Also on display in the VISC lab are other 'Work of Art' projects from the class. In the past, one other student won a similar award.

5/16/2006
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that Bob Regan's latest book "The Bridges of Pittsburgh" has just been published (Cover image attached). VISC and CNP will be holding a book purchase and signing at our open house on June 2nd.
Bob's earlier book "The Steps of Pittsburgh" has been nominated for a National Trust for Historic Preservation Honor Award. Hopefully we will celebrate his receipt of this award on June 2nd.
To get your copy of the book, see: http://www.thelocalhistorycompany.com/books/0977042928/pages/0977042928.html

4/23/2006
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it has received a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) to further its development of metadata. VISC's research has been aimed at extending the metadata concept to all entities and processes associated with systems.

4/15/2006
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that its partnership with the Computer Science Department of West Virginia University has received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Research Challenge Fund competition for Research Group Initiation (RGI) grants. The proposal was entitled "Information Networks for Homeland Security."
The project will create Intelligent Fusion Networks for Identity and Event Management (IFNIEM). VISC will be developing new visual paradigms for information management and knowledge discovery in emergency events.

3/15/2006
The Center for National Preparedness is pleased to announce that Ken Sochats will be participating in a roundtable discussion on regional preparedness this Friday, March 17th. Other panelists include George Foresman, Under Secretary for Preparedness U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Congressman Tim Murphy; Dan Onorato, Allegheny County Chief Executive; Roland Mertz, PA Director of Homeland Security; Bob Full, Chief Region 13 Task Force and other local leaders.

3/7/2006
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it will again co-sponsor the CIO Forum and Executive IT Summit on September 26 - 27, 2006 at the Regional Learning Alliance at Cranberry Woods.
The CIO Forum is an invitation-only conference that is CIO driven. Nationally, The Society of Information Management (SIM) sponsors the regional Forums. Forums are held in major urban areas and are targeted to current specific issues relevant to the region. The Executive Advisory Committee selects topics, speakers and the limited vendor presence.
Last year's Pittsburgh Forum featured Keynote Addresses by: Steve Cooper, CIO American Red Cross Former CIO US Department of Homeland Security Dr. Dan Mehan, CIO Federal Aviation Administration Ken Sochats moderated the Keynote Panel entitled "Business Survival" featuring executives from PNC, CNG, DHS, Three Rivers Contingency Planning Association and the Pittsburgh Regional Business Coalition for Homeland Security.
The panel was the highest rated session at the conference last year and will be updated and represented this year. Ken also serves on the Executive Advisory Committee of the Philadelphia CIO Forum which will be held on May 3 - 4, 2006 at the Hilton Valley Forge, King of Prussia, PA.

1/10/2006
The Visual Information Systems center (VISC) is please to announce that Ken Sochats has been appointed a Research Faculty Associate to the Pennsylvania Legislature. Faculty Associates provide advice and expert testimony on issues being addressed by the legislature. He will receive a small grant that will cover travel and other expenses.

12/12/2005
The Visual Information Systems Center is pleased to announce that the Alumni Signature Series lecture "Homeland Security and Preparedness in Pittsburgh" given on November 2nd by Ken Sochats of VISC and Maggie Potter and Sam Stebbins of the Center for Public Health Preparedness was the most visited Mediasite presentation in November on the Alumni web site.

11/21/2005
The Center for National Preparedness is pleased to announce that Ken Sochats has been appointed chair of the Education/Research Committee of the Regional Joint Readiness Center (RJRC) Task Force. As many of you know, Pittsburgh was successful in convincing the Base Reallocation and Closure (BRAC) Commission to keep the military facility at the airport open. The rationale for keeping the base open is to convert the mission of the base to a joint Defense and Homeland Security role by creating the RJRC. The RJRC Task Force is in the process of elaborating the mission and functions of the RJRC. The RJRC Task Force is chaired by Dan Onorato, the Allegheny County Chief Executive and Mike Langley, the Executive Director of the Allegheny Conference.
The Education/Research committee is comprised of leaders from regional educational institutions and has as its goal to help define how our institutions can assist in the training and educational missions of the RJRC. We will also outline the role that our institutions can play in identifying key research issues and conducting research that will define readiness for the Pittsburgh Region.

11/21/2005
The Visual Information Systems Center and The Usability Lab at SIS were key participants at the GIS Day and Geography Awareness Week celebrations at the Carnegie Science Center. Teacher GIS sessions were held by VISC in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). In addition to the exhibit booth, they presented their virtual reality tours on the Buhl Planetarium domed projection screen. Kudos to Matt Kelley, Jeff Jacobsen, Bob Regan, Brandon Povich, Matt Nichol, Lyle Seethaler and Sean Ellis.

9/27/2005
Bob Regan will be on KDKA (channel 2) morning show--10am--11am on Thursday Sept29--talking about steps in the City of Pittsburgh.
Bob Regan is the author of "The Steps of Pittsburgh, Portrait of a City". He is a mapping and GIS expert who once trained Apollo mission astronauts. More recently, Bob created with his VISC colleagues the most accurate GIS mapping of Pittsburgh's street addresses, a project that entailed walking and updating 22,000 block segments in the city. Bob also created a detailed GIS mapping of the city steps and the city bridges.
http://www2.sis.pitt.edu/people/bios/regan.html
http://www.thelocalhistorycompany.com/books/0971183562/pages/0971183562.html

9/19/2005
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it will be sponsoring the CIO Forum and Executive IT Summit once again this year on September 21-22 at the Regional Learning Alliance Conference and Education Center in Cranberry.
The Forum is an invitation-only conference designed for IT executives. The speakers are recommended and approved by an executive committee of CIOs. Selling is not permitted at the conference. The main goal of the conference is to allow the participants to interact in an open environment.

8/26/2005
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that two of its researchers Bob Regan and Ken Sochats will receive Outstanding GIS Service awards at the Central Appalachian Geospatial Conference on August 26th in Southpointe. The awards recognize the significance of their work in GIS. Attached is a summary of the projects they have worked on in the VISC lab.

8/11/2005
A+ Schools is pleased to announce a community dialog about values and preferences for the future configuration of Pittsburgh Public School buildings.
On Wednesday, August 17, 2005 from 5:30 to 8:30 PM we will host a community meeting to discuss factors and values, such as student achievement, safety, cost, diversity, and convenience that should go into policy making decisions in configuring school facilities for Pittsburgh Public Schools. The meeting will be held at the IBEW, Local #5 on the South Side.
After this community meeting we will launch an on-line survey to gauge public preferences on a range of factors and values as identified at the community meeting. The on-line survey will be active for 2-3 weeks.
A+ Schools will host a follow-up meeting on Wednesday, September 7, 2005 from 5:30 to 8:30 PM to report the results of the survey and discuss the implications for the future configuration of the Pittsburgh Public Schools' facilities. This meeting will also take place at the IBEW in the South Side.
Ken Sochats of the Visual Information Systems Center will present at this meeting and VISC has designed, will host and provide analyses of the on-line questionnaire.
Find out more about the meeting at: http://www.aplusschools.org/community.html.
Please RSVP at: http://www.aplusschools.org/rsvp.html

8/8/2005
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) and the Center for National Preparedness (CNP) are pleased to announced that they have received funding for a visiting researcher program with United Negro College Fund (UNCF) Special Programs. (www.uncf.org). Beginning as soon as possible researchers from UNCF affiliated universities will each spend a term as a resident researcher in VISC.
For further information, contact Ken Sochats in the VISC lab or visit http://visc.sis.pitt.edu/ and www.cnp.pitt.edu.

8/5/2005
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announced that it has received funding from A+ Schools (www.aplusschools.org) for its e-Citizen project. The project will involve parents, teachers and other concerned citizens in an on-line dialog regarding the future of education in Pittsburgh. The project will combine meetings and a web-based system to create a consensus view of priorities for Pittsburgh schools.

5/24/2005
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it has been featured in an article in School CIO. The article discusses the VIPER project.

5/11/2005
Bob Regan has been selected to be a judge at National History Day (high school history projects) to be held at Penn State May 11th and 12th. Bob can also be found at http://www.wqed.org/tv/pghist/neighborhoods/city_steps.shtml talking more about the Steps of Pittsburgh in WQED multimedia presentation.

4/11/2005
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that Bob Regan and Ken Sochats will receive the Outstanding GIS Service Award at the Central Appalachian Geo Spatial Conference's this year. The award honors those who have made a significant contribution to the discipline.

4/1/2005
Sean Ellis of the VISC Lab wins the 2005 Allen Kent Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Graduate Program in Information Science.

3/1/2005
VISC presented the Pittsburgh Street Data Update to the City and County officials Thursday March 24th. Also during the event VISC released the new 2005 Pittsburgh Public School Data Atlas. http://visc.sis.pitt.edu/pps
Media Coverage by Pittsburgh Post Gazette (http://www.postgazette.com) and WTAE (http://www.wtae.com)

3/1/2005
CaveUT won fifth place in the Educational category of the "Make Something Unreal Contest" sponsored by NVIDIA and Epic Games. The School of Information Sciences will receive five high-end graphics PCs for use in the Virtual Theatre (VT) at SIS. CaveUT is open-source freeware for Virtual Reality research, based on Epic's "Unreal" graphics engine. Sean Ellis and Matthew Kelley from VISC worked on the Virtual Theatre project along with CaveUT creator Jeffery Jacobson.

1/28/2005
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it has a grant from the PA Department of Education to extend the concept of metadata for use in their anticipated e-Government educational portal called PIMS. The Pennsylvania Information Management System will integrated diverse information to provide Pennsylvania citizens with web-based intelligent services across agencies.

1/14/2005
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it has received a continuation grant from Pittsburgh Public Schools for the VIPER Project. The research project is aimed at using visualization methodologies to analyze factors relating to "No Child Left Behind". VISC will again this year publish the PPS Atlas and Data Fact Book. We have also been invited to present at five national and educational technology conferences.

11/8/2004
VISC Project Manager Bob Regan will be on TV featured in a three minute segment on WPGH-Fox53 Ten O'Clock News on Tuesday night, November 9. The continuing success of Bob's book "The Steps of Pittsburgh: Portrait of A City" and the popular Step Trek Pittsburgh walking event are factors driving the coverage. Bob says that the segment should highlight the importance of steps in Pittsburgh, while showing him traipsing up and down some treads with TV reporter Andy Briggs.

11/5/2004
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it will be featured in a segment on the JumboTron during one of the time-outs or halftime at the Pitt/WVU game.

10/2/2004
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that the partnership that it has with the PA Departments of Education, Public Health and Welfare has received a large multi-year US Department of Education grant. The grant is in the Safe Schools Program and is aimed at providing schools with current information and analytical models for evaluating that information.

9/17/2004
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it has received funding from Ernst & Young, one of the largest consulting and public accounting firms in the world, for a research project titled "Discovery of anomalies in massive sets of business transactions". It is hoped that the multi-year project will fundamentally change the way that financial information is reported and processed.

9/9/2004
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that the Pittsburgh City Council proclaimed that yesterday was "Steps" day. Council also issued a proclamation commending VISC's Bob Regan for his book on the City Steps of Pittsburgh.

9/9/2004
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it was featured in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The article focused on VISC's Visualization project called VIPER.
A link to the article can be found at: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04252/375304.stm

9/6/2004
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it has been selected to participate in a research initiative sponsored by Intel Corporation. The research initiative will focus on discovery in massive multimedia data sets. The other initiative participants are UPMC, the school of Medicine and the CS department at CMU.

8/18/2004
VISC and Pittsburgh Regional Business Homeland Security Alliance
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it has been selected to join the Pittsburgh Region Homeland Security Alliance. The Alliance focuses on issues pertaining to corporate Homeland Security preparedness. Ken Sochats has been appointed to the core leadership of the Alliance.

8/18/2004
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that Bob Regan will receive a Special commendation from Pittsburgh City Council on September 7, 2004. The commendation is for Bob's book on the City Steps.

7/20/2004
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that its Threat Potential Modeling (TPM) system has been identified by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' (ASME) Critical Asset Protection Initiative (CAPI) as a component for inclusion in their risk assessment model. TMP models a broad range of threats both spatially and temporally. It also models consequences of the threats and predicts the results of protective measures. The initiative was presented to Secretary Ridge last week. The ASME Initiative includes the IEEE, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Nuclear Society, American Petroleum Institute, American Institute of Civil Engineers, Nuclear Energy Institute and others.

5/15/2004
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it has received a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE). VISC will assist PDE develop state and local educational data standards and metadata consistent with the corresponding national standards (National Center for Educational Statistics, NCES).

5/14/2004
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it is featured in the current issue of the University Times. Some of VISC's diverse research in visualization is highlighted in the centerfold of the Times.

5/9/2004
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it has received a grant from the Office of Budget and Finance. The research project is aimed at using visualization methodologies to analyze university administered federal student loans. Through this grant, VISC will develop a model relating student demographics, academic history and other characteristics to loan repayment factors.

5/7/2004
The Viscual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it has received a second grant from the Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS). The research project is aimed at using visualization methodologies to analyze student performance with respect to various causal factors. Through this grant, VISC will also participate standardization efforts now underway with the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) and the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES).
As a part of this project, VISC is hosting two researchers from PPS. Glenn Ponas is the director of the VIPER Project at PPS and Chris Temple is a PPS consultant from CMU. The will both be with us for an extended period (at least until the end of 2004). Please stop by introduce yourselves, and join us in welcoming them.
Later this summer we will be joined by two data standards managers from PDE.

4/23/2004
Bob Regan's book on the Streets of Pittsburgh is received an extremely favorable review from CNN. See www.cnn.com and click on their Travel link.

4/1/2004
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it is featured in an article in today's Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Through Project VIPER VISC has produced the Pittsburgh Public Schools Atlas and Data Fact book which will serve as a baseline for our further research. The article may be found at http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04092/294361.stm

3/28/2004
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that the Keystone Alliance which it hosts, has received a $1.2 million grant from the Ben Franklin Trust. The Center for National Preparedness (CNP) at the University of Pittsburgh, which is hosted by VISC, will receive the largest slice of these funds. In addition to supporting the Center, funds have been allocated to support a first responder effort and a Homeland Security Digital Library project, a collaboration between VISC and the Sara Fine Institute.

3/21/2004
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that the Pennsylvania Governor's Office for Information Technology (OIT) has appointed Ken Sochats, Director of VISC as a consultant to it's upcoming acquisition of Telecommunications services for the Commonwealth. The acquisition is valued at nearly $500,000,000. The acquisition process will take up to two years.

3/15/2004

The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it has been featured in an article in today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The article discusses the VIPER Project which is a collaboration between Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) and VISC.
VIPER is aimed at using visualization techniques to research critical impact factors for learning. VISC is hosting two PPS employees, Glenn Ponas, project director and Chris Temple, GIS consultant.
Bob Regan, Matt Kelley and Dave Perini of VISC were all quoted in the article.

3/14/2004
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that the Pennsylvania Department of Education has appointed Ken Sochats to it's Pennsylvania Information Management System (PIMS) working group. PIMS is the envisioned next generation information system for the Department of Education.

3/11/2004
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that the Provost has officially approved the Center for National Preparedness (CNP) at the University of Pittsburgh. The CNP will serve as a focal point for all Homeland Security activities at the university. The provost has provided three years of funding and has named Maggie Potter of the School of Public Health, Bernie Hibbitts of the School of Law and Ken Sochats of SIS to be co-directors. Initially CNP will be co-located in the VISC space (707 IS).
The CNP will be publicly launched during an all day ceremony on April 15th. The day will highlight exhibits by Pitt researchers, panel sessions featuring state and local Homeland Security experts and a luncheon featuring a keynote given by D.A. Henderson, director of the Center for Bio-Security in Baltimore, Maryland, an affiliate of CNP.
For those unaware, D.A., while heading the World Health Organization, led the effort to eradicate smallpox. For more on D.A. see the most recent issue of the Pitt Research Review.

3/11/2004
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it has been selected by Elsevier, one of the world's largest publishers to be a visualization/retrieval research partner in its Scopus Labs effort. Scopus' aim is create a Web-based system to make available and retrievable huge volumes of full-text journal articles. Elsevier publishes books under several prestigious brands including North-Holland and Academic Press. They also publish numerous world-class journals such as The Lancet. Elsevier has visited and evaluated over 200 researchers/sites in its process of selecting partners.
VISC will be working with other Pitt units and researchers including ULS, Chris Tomer, Jose Marie Griffiths and Don King.

10/3/2003
State Senator Jack Wagner and a PCN-TV video crew met with Ken Sochats and his VISC team two weeks ago to learn about the '707 First Responders' CAVE visualization system. The video crew filmed as Ken demonstrated the potential of virtual real environments to train, prepare, and support emergency first responders.
Senator Wagner virtually toured the County Office Building, even identifying and entering Jim Roddey's office. As a former first responder, Senator Wagner was impressed by both the degree of usefulness the virtual environment offers, and by the relatively low cost achieved by VISC.
Senator Wagner paused to engage the attention of Matt Kelley, Jeff Jacobson, and the assembled VISC lab team to say, "I want you all to recognize that what you are doing is important. You are doing more than just advancing technology, you are truly saving lives. In the future, this technology will save lives."
The PCN-TV video crew interviewed Ken, Matt Kelley, and Senator Wagner. The resulting program will be shown on PCN-TV sometime in December 2003. When the scheduled air time is set, it will be posted at http://www.pcntv.com/calendar.htm
Attached to the email is a photo of the Senator with Ken in front of the CAVE set up in the Large Commons Room on Five.

10/1/2003
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that an article on Dr. Robert Regan's latest book was published in the Post-Gazette. The article can be found at: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/03273/227010.stm
Bob is currently the GIS Guru at VISC. Formerly, Bob was Assistant Chief Geologist with the US Geological Survey (USGS) and Director of the GIS Program at Boston College. While at NASA Bob trained the Apollo astronauts for landing on the Moon.

10/1/2003
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that the Honorable James Roddey, Chief Executive of Allegheny County has signed an executive order appointing Dr. Robert Regan's to a committee to study data exchange and system integration between the county and city GIS systems.
Bob is currently the GIS Guru at VISC. Formerly, Bob was Assistant Chief Geologist with the US Geological Survey (USGS) and Director of the GIS Program at Boston College. While at NASA Bob trained the Apollo astronauts for landing on the Moon.

9/9/2003
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that Ken Sochats has been asked to serve on the Network and Computer Forensics Advisory Board of Pittsburgh Technical Institute (PTI).
The request came as a result of Ken's work with the FBI regarding cyber crime. PTI is also a member of the cyber crime working group.

9/9/2003
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that a delegation from the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Caucus will be visiting VISC on Thursday September 18th. They will be reviewing VISC's research in the area of homeland security.
A film crew will be accompanying them to create a program for broadcast on the Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN).

9/9/2003
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it has received a grant from the Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) to study school standards and performance. The goal of the project is to lay the basis for a large proposal to local foundations.
Glenn Ponas of PPS will be joining VISC as a visiting researcher in the fall.

8/16/2003
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that its director Ken Sochats has begun the process to patent his latest invention "A Portal-Based Sensor System for Detecting Multiple Security Threats".
Ken's earlier inventions were in the areas of power generation and communications.

8/7/2003
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that Ken Sochats has been selected by the University of Pittsburgh Alumni Association to participate in the Alumni Continuing Education Program.
This November, he will present some of his work on Visualization. Included will be visualizations of Homicide done for the FBI, Patents (Eli Lilly), Educational Attainment (Pittsburgh Public Schools) and Strategic Analysis.

8/4/2003
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it has signed a collaborative agreement with the Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) at Penn State (www.arl.psu.edu). The agreement has been generalized such that any Pitt faculty member can "opt in" and is protected by the proprietary information exchange.
ARL does "secret research" which Pitt as a policy does not do. The agreement only covers non-secret research.
Currently VISC and researchers at ARL are researching visualization techniques for interpreting signals from multi-detector arrays for the detection of chemical, biological and radiological security threats.

7/31/2003
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it has been selected to have its work featured at this year's homecoming The weekend of October 25th, 2003.
VISC will have several large interactive displays in the Alumni Tent at Heinz Field prior to the Pitt-Syracuse Homecoming football game. Exact timing and details will depend on the television broadcast schedule.

5/30/2003
The University Library System (ULS) and the Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) are pleased to announce that they have formed a partnership to pursue research and other mutually beneficial activities. Initial projects will include collaborative research with OCLC and Elsevier, metadata and a web-based mapping interface for ULS's geospatial reference data and a navigable virtual model for Hillman Library.

5/9/2003
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that it has been selected by the Provost to be featured in one of a series of twelve articles in the Pitt Chronicle highlighting "areas of research at which (the University) excel(s)".
The first of the University articles on Aging appeared in the April 28 issue of Chronicle.

5/8/2003
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) has been selected by the Provost's office to be a representative for Pitt in the Keystone Alliance for Homeland Security (KAHS).
VISC recently demonstrated some of its projects at the inaugural KAHS conference in State College. VISC projects were featured in an article in the Penn State press. See
http://live.psu.edu/index.php?cmd=vs&story=2847
VISC projects are also featured on the KAHS Web Site. https://www.keystone-alliance.org/homepage/Homepage.svlt
VISC has also been selected by the Provost's office to be a participant in Pitt's Center for National Preparedness (CNP). Ken Sochats has been selected to chair one of the three CNP working groups.

2/10/2003
The Visual Information Systems Center (VISC) is pleased to announce that Matt Kelley, a Systems Analyst in the VISC Lab, recently returned from India where he helped dedicate four orphanages, which a group he belongs to supports. We at VISC are, and will be supporting his efforts and, I am sure that any support that you wish to provide will be greatly appreciated.