Invitation: PhD defence Jorik Blaas, invited talks Prof. Hauser and Prof. Ynnerman
It is our great pleasure and honour to invite you to the PhD defence of Jorik Blaas as well as to the subsequent talks by our two esteemed international guests, Prof. Helwig Hauser and Prof. Anders Ynnerman. The defence and talks will take place on Thursday, June 24, 2010 according to the following schedule:
- 9:30 - Lekenpraatje Jorik Blaas (Senaatszaal, Aula)
- 10:00 - Defence Jorik Blaas (Senaatszaal, Aula)
- 15:00 - Invited Talk Prof.dr. Helwig Hauser (Stamatis Vassiliadis room [HB 16.140, EEMCS])
- 16:00 - Invited Talk Prof.dr. Anders Ynnerman (Stamatis Vassiliadis room [HB 16.140, EEMCS])
See below for details on the Ph.D. and the invited talks.
Ph.D. defence
Title: Visual Analysis of Multi-Field Data
Abstract: This thesis investigates methods for the visualization of multi-field medical data. In the medical field, data complexity has been growing consistently over the past years. Not only the size of the data grows, but also the need to visualize beyond traditional boundaries. We present a number of novel facets that encompass a general approach to the exploration of multi-field data. We strongly believe that human-in-the-loop visual data analysis on large and complex datasets is best aided by multiple linked different representations. The presented techniques demonstrate how complex data from multiple modalities can be visualized and interactively explored. We explore the use of linked selections to aid in reducing the complexity of the visualizations. Using multiple-linked views, we can integrate multiple orthogonal representations of the data simultaneously. We have applied aforementioned techniques in the design and implementation of a number of prototype frameworks, with applications ranging from brain imaging for neurosurgical planning to the study of the behavior of marine animals through the use of sensor data. We also present a conceptual framework for studying complex longitudinal data, by means of aggregation and multi-level visualization. We successfully adapted techniques from information visualization in order to use them on datasets that are orders of magnitude larger than they are originally used for.
The thesis can be downloaded (PDF) at: http://visualisation.tudelft.nl/
Invited Talk 1
Title: Interactive Visual Analysis with different levels of complexity
Speaker: Prof.dr. Helwig Hauser
Abstract: Interactive visual data exploration and analysis is a powerful methodology for enabling insight into complex and also large data. The iterative process of visualization and interaction (and back to visualization, aso.) can be seen as a visual dialog between the user and the data. Thereby, powerful data analysis schemes are enabled such as a step-by-step information drill-down, steered by the user's perception, cognition, and knowledge. In this talk, we look at different levels of this methodology (in the sense of levels of complexity), starting at the first level of "show & brush", continuing then via "relational analysis" to a third level that we call "complex analysis". The hypothesis is stated that it indeed is useful to have these different levels of complexity for interactive visual data analysis: a large share of all addressed problems can be satisfyingly solved with the "simple" level of "show & brush", while the more complex levels of this methodology are only paying off in special cases. Along with a characterization of these levels, we also take a look at a number of illustrative examples.
Bio
Helwig Hauser graduated from the Vienna University of Technology, Austria, in 1995 and received the degree of a Dr.techn. (~PhD) from the same university in 1998. He worked as an assistant professor at the Institute of Computer Graphics at the same university from 1994 until 2000. Afterwards, Helwig Hauser joined the newly founded VRVis Research Center in Vienna, Austria, as a key researcher in the field of visualization. In 2003, he became the scientific director of VRVis.
In 2004, Helwig Hauser was entitled a "Privatdozent" at the Vienna University of Technology (according to his successful Habilitation, entitled "Generalizing Focus+Context Visualization", see also further down). In 2006, he was awarded with the prestigous Heinz Zemanek Award for this work.
Since 2007, Helwig Hauser is professor at the University of Bergen, Norway, where he is working in a newly established research group on visualization.
His interests are diverse in visualization and computer graphics, including interactive visual analysis, illustrative visualization, and the combination of scientific and information visualization, as well as many other related topics. Helwig Hauser is also particularly interested in the application of visualization to the fields of medicine, geoscience/geology, engineering, meteorology, biology, and others).
Afternoon Talk 2
Title: Rendering and interacting with large scale volumetric data for medical applications
Speaker: Prof.dr. Anders Ynnerman
Abstract: This talk will present recent advances in medical volume rendering from the Center for Medical Image Science (CMIV) and the Norrköping Visualization and Interaction Studio (NVIS), both at Linköping University in Sweden. The first part of the talk will address the issue of data reduction and multi resolution representations for Level-of-Detail selection using the knowledge encoded in transfer functions. Knowledge encoding can also be used to obtain fuzzy classification of unsegmented data and it will be demonstrated how classification can be used to improve transfer function design and enhance features of interest. Other aspects of medical volume rendering such as the use of illumination models to enhance depth cues and to convey additional information from other co-registered sources will also be covered. The second part of the talk will present methods for haptic (force feedback) interaction with volumetric data. New methods for the design and implementation of haptic modes for medical data will be presented and haptic feedback for time resolved volumes will be demonstrated. Throughout the presentation medical examples of volume rendering will be shown such as full body virtual autopsies using the presented methods.
Bio
Professor Anders Ynnerman received a Ph.D. in physics from Gothenburg University. During the early 90s he was doing research at Oxford University, UK, and Vanderbilt University, USA. In 1996 he started the Swedish National Graduate School in Scientific Computing, which he directed until 1999. From 1997 to 2002 he directed the Swedish National Supercomputer Centre and from 2002 to 2006 he directed the Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing (SNIC).
Since 1999 he has held a chair in scientific visualization at Linköping University and in 2000 he founded the Norrköping Visualization and Interaction Studio (NVIS). NVIS currently constitutes one of the main focal points for research and education in computer graphics and visualization in the Nordic region. He is also one of the co-founders of the Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization (CMIV) and he is currently the chair of the CMIV scientific council. He is involved in several spin-off companies in the area of visualization and scientific computing. Ynnerman’s current research interest lies in the area of visualization of large scale and complex data sets with a focus on volume rendering and multi-modal interaction.
Ynnerman is an elected member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences and a board member of the Swedish Research Council. In 2007 Ynnerman was awarded the Akzo Nobel Science award and the Golden Mouse award for Swedish IT-person of the year. In 2007 he co-chaired the EuroVis conference and in 2008 he co-chaired the Symposium on Volume Graphics. He is the general chair of Eurographics 2010 organized by Linköping University.