The Center for Advanced Visualization, Computation and Modeling (CAVCaM) was formed by the merger of two large and related programs into a new DRI interdisciplinary center that recieved the final approval by the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) Board of Regents on December 2, 2005. The first of these two programs was the Advanced Computing in Environmental Science (ACES), funded by the National Science Foundation Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF EPSCoR). Through this research infrastructure improvement program, computational, visualization, and collaborative technologies and know-how were brought to DRI and other NSHE research units to increase the application of computer modeling and scientific data visualization in environmental research. The other program ("the CAVE project") was a initiated by a Federal Initiative grant from the Army's Simulation and Training Technology Center (STTC) to construct, operate and support a suite of high-end virtual reality visualization systems. The resources acquired and the DRI staff hired by these two programs have been brought together into a joint CAVCaM effort.
Under both grants, new DRI staff has been hired to help fulfill the obligations of the work. Faculty members working on either project are members of one of the three DRI divisions, and participate in their division while performing the tasks required of them by the grants.
The Advanced Computing in Environmental Sciences (ACES, http://www.aces.dri.edu) is a statewide computational science program that was funded by the NSF's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF EPSCoR) from July 2002 to January 2006. This collaborative effort was between DRI; the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR); and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The effort focused on creating new capabilities for multidisciplinary research in Nevada, centered on computer modeling, scientific data visualization, and other data-intensive techniques in environmental research.
The Desert Research Institute (DRI) in Reno was the core facility of the ACES program, where a large portion of the program's computing and visualization resources and the ACES staff are located. Dr. Vanda Grubišić, the initiator and the director of the ACES computing and visualization facilities at DRI, was the statewide coordinator of ACES. Shulan Liu and Mark Ballew were hired in the Summer of 2003 as the Scientific Application Programmer and System Administrator, respectively. In 2005, Kathleen Smith-Miller replaced the departing Mark Ballew. A number of research programs and people at all three NSHE research entities have been supported by ACES through graduate and post-doctoral fellowships, seed grants for development of new projects, and new faculty support.
Through the efforts of the ACES program, DRI obtained its first centralized shared computing resources (the high-end Altix compute server and the Linux-based VisCluster) along with a state-of-the-art multi-use visualization laboratory (the VisLab) with a large wall-to-wall tiled display and stereoscopic front-projection system, available to all DRI faculty and graduate students. High-end computing resources at all the NSHE research campuses, serving the state's environmental researchers, were connected in the Nevada Environmental Computing Grid (NCEG). The ACES collaborative environment was built by establishing the first three Access Grid nodes in Nevada at the DRI in Reno, UNR and UNLV, allowing collaboration through videoconferencing within the state, around the nation, and the world.
The ACES program initiated a new strategic direction of advanced computing, modeling and visualization within the DRI research enterprise. In 2003, ACES director, Dr. Vanda Grubišić, co-sponsored the proposal that ultimately brought the CAVE facility to DRI. In December 2005, ACES became part of CAVCaM, the new DRI interdisciplinary science scenter with Dr. Grubišić as the advistor to the CAVE project and the director of the ACES VisLab.
The effort to bring virtual reality technology to DRI was inspired by a visit of Dr. Tim Brown to the six-sided CAVE-like display at Iowa State University. Dr. Brown saw a great possibility in using such a system to help visualize wildfires and management decisions for difference scenarios including prediction, planning, mitigation and public education.
His idea caught on among DRI researchers and administrators, so it was proposed as a Federal Initiative Grant to the Nevada delegation as a joint proposal with ACES director, Dr. Grubišić. After being selected as an effort worth pursuing, an award was granted through the U.S. Army's Simulation and Training Technology Center (STTC).
Phase-I of the effort began in July 2004, with Bill Sherman joining us from the NCSA Visualization & Virtual Reality group in September 2004 as interim director of the project. During the course of 2005, three new visualization and virtual reality members of the team were hired (Simon Su, Phil McDonald and Yi Mu) to work on internally funded demonstration projects with DRI faculty. In December 2005, the CAVE project became a part of CAVCaM, with Bill Sherman taking the role as Technical and Acting Director of the new center. In January 2006, we transitioned to Phase-II of the effort. Awards for four additional internally funded projects were made shortly thereafter.
As part of the CAVE project, a Visbox-P1 portable large single-screen immersive display and a larger four sided CAVE-like display (a Fakespace FLEX) have been installed at the DRI Reno campus, with plans for a single-screen immersive display for Las Vegas, and a six-sided CAVE-like display in Reno.
The second phase of the project involves the construction of a new Computational Research and Visualization building which will house many of the CAVCaM team members as well as many of DRI's scientists working with computational simulations. Funding for the building is courtesy of the state of Nevada. STTC Phase-II funds are for the construction of a six-sided CAVE-like display which will be the centerpiece technology of the virtual reality effort, as well as the new building.